Another former Justice Department lawyer went before Congress on Wednesday with few answers for his Democratic interrogators and a spotty memory. Time and again during his confirmation hearing, Hans von Spakovsky cited either the attorney-client privilege or a cloudy memory for his purported role in restricting minorities' voting rights.
In recent years, the Bush administration has recast the federal government's role in civil rights by aggressively pursuing religion-oriented cases while significantly diminishing its involvement in the traditional area of race.
Two congressional committees are issuing subpoenas for testimony from former White House counsel Harriet Miers and former political director Sara Taylor on their roles in the firings of eight federal prosecutors, according to two officials familiar with the investigation.
A voter fraud case brought by the interim U.S. attorney in Kansas City, Mo., just five days before last year's pivotal congressional elections was rejected by a Missouri prosecutor as being too weak and as inappropriate to pursue so close to the elections.
The White House's former political director was furious at Justice Department officials for disclosing to Congress that the administration had forced out the U.S. attorney in Little Rock, Ark., to make way for a protege of Karl Rove, President Bush's political adviser, according to documents released late Tuesday.
Not sure if any of you have heard - probably have by now - about Genarlow Wilson, who was convicted at age 17 of having consensual with a girl age 15. He was sentenced to 10 years and has already served 27 months ââ;¬" FINALLY, some judge took his head out his ass long enough to goââ
GOP Environmentalist Linked to Abramoff to Plead Guilty

Italia Federici, the president of a Republican environmental group who came under Senate scrutiny last year because of her ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, has agreed to plead guilty to charges of tax evasion and obstructing a congressional investigation.
Vice President Cheney told Justice Department officials that he disagreed with their objections to a secret surveillance program during a high-level White House meeting in March 2004, a former senior Justice official told senators yesterday.
WASHINGTON - Advocates of a bill promoting openness in government are fuming that a Republican senator is blocking a vote on the measure. Dozens of journalism and advocacy groups supporting the Open Government Act say it would speed up the government's response to public requests for information under the federal Freedom of Information law.
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Minnesota case fits pattern in attorneys flap

For more than 15 years, Tom Heffelfinger was the embodiment of a tough Republican prosecutor. So it came as a surprise, and something of a mystery, when he turned up on a list of U.S. attorneys who had been targeted for firing. Part of the reason, government documents suggest, is that he tried to protect voting rights for Native Americans.
Wednesday the Department of Justice informed the House and Senate Judiciary Committees that it was expanding an internal investigation into the bungled firings of eight U.S. attorneys.
Inquiry widens into Justice Department hiring

The Justice Department has broadened an internal investigation into whether aides to Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales improperly took into account political considerations in hiring employees, officials familiar with the probe said Thursday.
The Justice Department considered political affiliation in screening applicants for immigration court judgeships for several years until hiring was frozen in December after objections from department lawyers, current and former officials said yesterday.
A former aide to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told Congress on Wednesday she "crossed the line" by letting politics influence the Justice Department's hiring process.
Monica Goodling capped her testimony today by recalling her last conversation with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and saying she felt uncomfortable when Gonzales began recalling for her his understanding of the process that led to the firings of nine U.S. attorneys last year.
I just couldn't resist the headline. But this Monica does not wear a blue dress, but she may help to bring down her boss. "I didn't mean to break the law," seemed to be the line of the day for Monica Goodling as it was repeated often in her testimony to congress today.
Gitmo Attorneys Sue NSA and DOJ

A civil liberties group representing 16 attorneys of detainees at Guantanamo Bay on Thursday sued the National Security Agency and the Justice Department, claiming that the government illegally spied on the lawyers with warrantless wiretaps and has refused to turn over records of the snooping.
As attorney general, John D. Ashcroft was the public face of an administration pushing the boundaries of the Constitution to hunt down terrorists, but behind the scenes, according to former aides and White House officials, he at times resisted what he saw as radical overreaching.
Even as he came under renewed political pressure this week, Alberto Gonzales faced sharp criticism from many of his own US attorneys at a private meeting in San Antonio. Over a dozen US attorneys spoke during the morning session, most of them expressing concern about the scandal's impact on their own offices and the overall image of the department.
A U.S. attorney in Florida whose name appeared on a Justice Department firing list received commendations from the Justice Department and White House even as he was being targeted for removal. Gregory Miller said Friday that the awards and praise he'd received showed that his job performance couldn't have caused him to be targeted for dismissal.
It doesn't much matter whether President Bush was the one who phoned Attorney General Ashcroft's hospital room in 2004. It matters however, whether the president was willing to have his aides try to strong-arm him into overruling the DOJ's legal views. It matters whether the president, once that failed, was willing to proceed with a program.
Impeachment Summer launched with a historic day of Pro-Impeachment Actions in more than 125 Locations nationwide! We the people demand impeachment and These photos spell it out for congress! Excellent site for impeachment activism!
Justice weighed firing 26 attorneys

The Justice Department considered dismissing many more U.S. attorneys than officials have previously acknowledged, with at least 26 prosecutors suggested for termination between February 2005 and December 2006, according to sources familiar with documents withheld from the public.
President Bush's Justice Department has made voter fraud such a priority that the president and adviser Karl Rove made sure to mention it to state officials during a campaign swing through Las Vegas just months before the contested 2004 election. The only problem: Their U.S. attorney, Daniel Bogden, didn't have many voter fraud cases to pursue.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Tuesday he relied heavily on his deputy to oversee the firings of U.S. attorneys, appearing to distance himself from his departing second-in-command.
Nearly half the U.S. attorneys slated for removal by the administration last year were targets of Republican complaints that they were lax on voter fraud, including efforts by presidential adviser Karl Rove to encourage more prosecutions of election- law violations, according to new documents and interviews.
The evidence from the Senate investigation of the unprecedented firing of 8 U.S. attorneys shows an attorney general whose misjudgments are profound, and who is complicit in the greatest politicization of the U.S. Department of Justice since the Nixon administration. Here are some of the particulars of why Alberto Gonzales should go.
The Bush administration has withheld a series of e-mails from Congress showing that senior White House and Justice Department officials worked together to conceal the role of Karl Rove in installing Timothy Griffin, a protÃ;©gÃ;© of Rove's, as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas.
The former U.S. attorney in Kansas City, Mo., Todd P. Graves, said yesterday that he was asked to step down from his job by a senior Justice Department official in January 2006, months before eight other federal prosecutors would be fired by the Bush administration.
Two former U.S. attorneys said today they believe ongoing investigations into the dismissals last year of eight federal prosecutors could result in criminal charges against senior Justice Department officials.







