Federal judge orders release of report into alleged prosecutorial misconduct in case involving late senator

A federal district judge ruled that the government had to release a 500-page report about alleged prosecutorial misconduct in the case against the late Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska for failing to list improper gifts in Senate ethics forms. Stevens was convicted of the charges and lost his seat in the senate, but the conviction [...]

Government watchdog alleges FBI stonewalling on WikiLeaks surveillance

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) has sued the Justice Department and the FBI claiming that they refuse to release information on the FBI’s surveillance of citizens who have shown support for or interest in WikiLeaks. EPIC made the Freedom of Information Act complaint in federal court. -db From the Courthouse News Service, January 31, [...]

Justice Department shuts down popular file-sharing site in criminal copyright case

In a criminal copyright case, the Justice Department shut down Megaupload, executed search warrants , arrested some executives and seized $50 worth of assets. The Justice Department claimed that Megaupload violated copyrights of movies, “often before their theatrical release, music, television programs, electronic books, and business and entertainment software on a massive scale.” -db From [...]

Federal judge rules for public interest group seeking files of criminal investigation of House member

A federal judge in Washington, D.C. found that the Justice Department could not withhold files from the nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics of their criminal investigation of U.S. Rep. Don Young of Alaska. The Justice Department did not file any charges against Young and withheld the files on privacy grounds. -db From the Anchorage [...]

Obama administration capitulates in immigration record dispute

The Obama administration is no longer fighting a battle to avoid disclosing legal memos over plans to force local law enforcement to participate in Secure Communities, an immigration enforcement program. The administration also admitted that it gave a federal  judge false information last year in one of the hearings on the case. -db From a [...]

Federal judge dismisses defamation suit against The Washington Post

A man who had written a fictionalized version of his youth during which he murdered his father sued a Washington Post reporter for an article that he claimed presented him unfavorably and defamed him. The article concerned the man’s attempts to regain control of his manuscript. The federal  judge wrote, “A description of Bond’s legal [...]

Justice Department freezes music blog for a year supposedly for copyright infringement

The Justice Department seized the assets of a popular music blog, Dajaz1, reportedly for violations of copyright, but did not give the blog a day in court to fight the action. Writing in TechDirt, Mike Masnick says it was an outrageous act, “I suspect that nearly all of you [readers] would say that’s a classic [...]

Sponsor of online piracy bill voices concerns over censorship issues

Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Lamar Smith R-Texas, expressed concerns over the scope of the Stop Online Piracy Act by saying that he was uncertain whether the Justice Department should be allowed to obtain court orders demanding that ISPs prevent users from visiting blacklisted websites, websites accused of infringing on intellectual property. Under [...]

Obama administration bids to keep White House visitor logs from public

The Obama administration is appealing a judge’s ruling that Secret Service records of White House visitors come under the Freedom of Information Act and must be disclosed to the public. The Justice Department claims the records are presidential records not agency records so not subject to the FOIA. -db From Politico, October 14, 2011, by [...]

Justice Department refuses to declassify opinion on legality of warrantless surveillance

The Justice Department has refused to declassify a 2001 opinion written by John C. Yoo on the Bush administration’s warrantless surveillance program. Critics of the program want to obtain the entire 21-page opinion to make sure misguided legal opinions do not live on to guide government policy. -db From Secrecy News, August 26, 2011. by [...]

Federal secrecy: Complaint to fight gratuitous classification

The former head of the Security Oversight Office, J.William Leonard, has filed a complaint against two federal agencies for classifying a document that has no secrets. The complaint asked that officials be punished for overclassification. Leonard said in his 34 years in government, he often saw documents unnecessarily classified as secret, and no one was [...]

Whistleblower gets plea deal, dodges espionage conviction

A former employee of the National Security Agency, Thomas A. Drake, charged with espionage for leaking classified information, struck a deal with the Justice Department admitting to a misdemeanor of using NSA’s computers to to provide information to a reporter for the Baltimore Sun. It is expected that Drake will not have to serve any [...]

Government agencies erasing crucial e-mails

Government agencies are failing to maintain records of e-mails prompting concern that the agencies will not be able to fufill their mission and that the citizen’s right to hold government accountable will be seriously compromised. According to a survey conducted by the National Archives and Records Administration, among missing e-mails were thousands improperly destroyed by [...]

National Archives challenges CIA on destruction of tapes of brutal interrogations

The National Archives and Records Administration said they plan to investigate whether the CIA’s destruction of tapes showing brutal interrogations of terror suspects constituted improper destruction of federal records. -db NBC News November 10, 2010 By Michael Isikoff The legal inquiries into the CIA’s destruction of videotapes showing the brutal interrogation of terror suspects may [...]

Justice Department absolves FBI of violating First Amendment rights

A Justice Department investigation concluded that since 2001, the FBI had improperly monitored some activists and political groups but did not target any individual or group for exercising their First Amendment rights. -db The Washington Post September 20, 2010 By Jerry Markon The FBI improperly investigated some left-leaning U.S. advocacy groups after the Sept. 11, [...]

Obama administration claims visitor logs exempt from Freedom of Information Act

Despite district court holdings to the contrary, in a recent court filing the Obama Justice Department claimed that White House visitor logs are exempt from the FOIA. -db Judicial Watch Press Release April 29, 2010 WASHINGTON, D.C.– Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that the Obama Justice [...]

Presidential pardons: Obama administration puts privacy above transparency

The Justice Department filed a brief in federal appeals court in a bid to deny a journalist’s request for the names of the nearly 10,000 individuals denied clemency by President George W. Bush. -db Politico Commentary March 29, 2010 By Josh Gerstein While President Barack Obama has vowed to operate the most open and transparent administration [...]

Judge affirms constitutionality of federal obscenity laws

A U.S. district judge refused to dismiss a case against a major pornography studio ruling that the federal obscenity laws offered sufficient guidance to the studio charged with transporting obscene material across state lines. -DB The Blog of Legal Times December 22, 2009 By Jordan Weissmann A U.S. district judge today refused to dismiss the [...]

Critics want state deputy attorney to drop plans for teaching course with author of torture memos

Critics of John Woo who wrote memos for the Bush administration justifying torture are pressuring a California deputy attorney general to drop plans to teach a constitutional law class at UC Berkeley with Woo. They say that teaching the class with Woo would “legitimize his [Woo's] illegal and unethical actions.” -DB San Francisco Chronicle December [...]

Makers of Botox use First Amendment to sue federal government

The Makers of Botox, the anti-wrinkle drug, say their First amendment rights to speak to doctors have been restricted by the Justice Department and the Food and Drug Administration. The government blocks the pharmaceutical company from marketing to doctors unapproved uses of the drug. -DB The New York Times October 3, 2009 By Natasha Singer [...]

Federal court orders Guantanamo hearing closed to public

The U.S. Court of Appeals decided they don’t want the public to hear the oral arguments in a Guantanamo detainee case crucial to determining if habeus corpus applies to those held in detention as “enemy combatants.” -DB The Blog of Legal Times September 15, 2009 By Mike Scarcella Everybody out: a three-judge panel of the U.S. [...]