Carrie Johnson

Source: Obama Considering Releasing NSA Court Order

Carrie Johnson — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 13:20:00 +0000

NPR has learned that the Obama administration, under pressure to lift a cloak of secrecy, is considering whether to declassify a court order that gives the National Security Agency the power to gather phone call record information on millions of Americans.

The document, known as a "primary order," complements a shorter Foreign Intelligence Surveillance court document leaked to The Guardian newspaper earlier this month. That document revealed the U.S.

Holder On The Hot Seat Over Leak Investigations

Carrie Johnson — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 06:54:00 +0000

Attorney General Eric Holder has been a lightning rod for the president's fiercest critics during his four years in office. Lately, he's been back on the hot seat with a crisis of his own making: the Justice Department's aggressive stance toward reporters in national security leak cases.

Holder heads to the Senate on Thursday, where lawmakers are sure to demand an explanation.

Being in the center of the storm is nothing new for Holder.

Defense: Too Many Documents 'Classifed' In Rosen Leak Case

Carrie Johnson — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 22:21:00 +0000

The lawyer for Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, a former State Department contractor charged with leaking top-secret information to Fox News, has accused the intelligence community of impeding his defense by slapping the "classified" label on hundreds of irrelevant and harmless documents.

Defense attorney Abbe D. Lowell told a judge in the U.S.

Intent To Harm At Center Of Bradley Manning's Trial

Carrie Johnson — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 07:35:00 +0000

In the three years since his arrest, Bradley Manning, the slight Army private first class with close-cropped blond hair and thick military glasses, has become less of a character than a cause.

"Bradley Manning is a very polarizing figure. People either think that he is a hero or they think he's a traitor," says Elizabeth Goitein, who co-directs the liberty and national security program at the Brennan Center for Justice. "I actually think that he's somewhere in between."

Manning is accused of one of the biggest leaks of classified information in history.

Former Justice Official In Line To Be Named FBI Chief

Carrie Johnson — Wed, 29 May 2013 22:23:00 +0000

NPR has learned that former Justice Department official James B. Comey is in line to become President Obama's choice as the next FBI director, according to two sources familiar with the search.

Comey, 52, has an extensive track record at the highest levels of federal law enforcement. He served as the deputy attorney general — the second in command at Justice — in the George W.

Senators Tussle Over Proposal To 'Unpack' Key D.C. Court

Carrie Johnson — Wed, 29 May 2013 06:56:00 +0000

More than 75 years ago, President Franklin Roosevelt caused an uproar with his plan to "pack" the Supreme Court with friendly justices. It was an audacious effort to protect his New Deal initiatives.

Now, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, has floated the reverse — legislation that would cut three seats from the important D.C.

Gallup Nears Settlement Deal With DOJ In Overbilling Case

Carrie Johnson — Tue, 28 May 2013 16:22:00 +0000

The Gallup Organization has reached "an agreement in principle" with the Justice Department to settle civil allegations that the polling company overbilled the U.S.

Sick Inmates Dying Behind Bars Despite Release Program

Carrie Johnson — Thu, 23 May 2013 07:05:00 +0000

Prison is a tough place, but Congress made an exception nearly 30 years ago, giving terminally ill inmates and prisoners with extraordinary family circumstances an early way out. It's called compassionate release.

But a recent investigation found that many federal inmates actually die while their requests drift through the system.

One of them was Clarence Allen Rice.

Rice operated a leasing company in Iowa for decades.

Key Charge Against Ex-BP Official In Spill Case Dismissed

Carrie Johnson — Mon, 20 May 2013 23:11:00 +0000

It's another bad day for the Justice Department.

A federal judge in Louisiana has thrown out the central criminal charge against a former BP executive because prosecutors failed to prove he knew about a pending congressional investigation into oil flowing into the Gulf of Mexico three years ago. U.S.

Holder Called To Capitol Hill To Testify On Controversies

Carrie Johnson — Wed, 15 May 2013 10:23:00 +0000

In an NPR interview, Attorney General Eric Holder answers questions about the IRS's processing of tax-exemption applications, the Justice Department's subpoenas for reporters' phone records and other hot issues. Holder faces questions on Capitol Hill Wednesday during an oversight hearing.

Justice Department Secretly Obtains AP Phone Records

Carrie Johnson — Tue, 14 May 2013 07:25:00 +0000

The Associated Press is protesting what it calls a massive and unprecedented intrusion into its gathering of news. The target of that wrath is the U.S. Justice Department, which secretly collected phone records for several AP reporters last year. The AP says it's caught in the middle of a Justice Department leak investigation.

The scope of the Justice Department subpoenas is what gives David Schultz, a lawyer for AP, pause.

"It was a very large number of records that were obtained, including phone records from Hartford, New York, Washington, from the U.S.

Head Of Environmental Crimes Unit Is Leaving Government

Carrie Johnson — Wed, 08 May 2013 11:03:00 +0000

Assistant U.S. Attorney General Ignacia Moreno, the point person at the Justice Department for prosecuting environmental crimes, says she will leave government service next month.

Moreno, the first Latina to lead the department's Environment and Natural Resources Division, was unanimously confirmed by the Senate in November 2009. Her tenure spanned one of the worst disasters in U.S. history, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded in April 2010.

Specially Trained FBI Agents Will Help Kidnapped Women Heal

Carrie Johnson — Wed, 08 May 2013 10:08:00 +0000

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

When Charles Ramsey talked with a 911 operator about the woman he'd found, the operator had this question.

(SOUNDBITE OF 911 CALL)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Can you ask her if she needs an ambulance?

CHARLES RAMSEY: You need an ambulance or what? She needs everything. She's in a panic.

Study: Release Program For Terminal Inmates 'Poorly Managed'

Carrie Johnson — Wed, 01 May 2013 14:47:00 +0000

A new watchdog report (PDF) says a Federal Bureau of Prisons program designed to help terminally ill inmates get early release is "poorly managed and implemented inconsistently."

The study by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, which was released Wednesday morning, finds that in 13 percent of cases in which prisoners were approved for the program, inmates died before bureaucrats in Washington made a final decision.

Congress gave the Bureau of Prisons the authority to reduce an inmate's sentence for "extraord

ATF Allies Say Agency Handicapped By Lack Of Director

Carrie Johnson — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 07:18:00 +0000

It's one of the smallest law enforcement agencies in the federal government, but the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has sure had a busy couple of weeks.

Dozens of its agents raced to Boston, where they analyzed bombs left near the finish line of the marathon. Others went south to Texas, where a fertilizer plant exploded under mysterious circumstances.

Boston Search Shines Spotlight On Surveillance Cameras

Carrie Johnson — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 19:54:00 +0000

Footage from surveillance cameras along the Boston Marathon route gave the FBI early clues about the bombing suspects. And prosecutors say they'll use some of those images to try to prove their criminal case against 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Labor Nominee's Civil Rights Work Draws Praise, Controversy

Carrie Johnson — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 01:44:00 +0000

President Obama's nominee to lead the Labor Department has been one of the most aggressive advocates for civil rights in decades.

Some Public Defenders Warn: 'We Have Nothing Left To Cut'

Carrie Johnson — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 07:22:00 +0000

Steven Nolder joined the federal public defender's office when it opened in Columbus, Ohio, nearly 18 years ago.

The Hunt Is On For A New FBI Director

Carrie Johnson — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 07:20:00 +0000

Robert Mueller became FBI director just days before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Since then, he's been the U.S. government's indispensable man when it comes to national security.

But Mueller's term has expired, and the clock is ticking on an unprecedented extension that Congress gave him two years ago.

The first time the Obama White House thought about a replacement for Mueller, back in 2011, officials threw up their hands and wound up begging him to stay. Congress passed a special law to allow it. Then Republican Sen.

Judicial Vacancies Languish On Key Federal Appeals Court

Carrie Johnson — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 07:25:00 +0000

The federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., is sometimes called the second most important court in the country, regularly delivering the final word on major environmental, labor and national security cases.

But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has a whopping four vacancies, the most in the nation, including one opening that dates all the way back to 2005, when John Roberts moved to the U.S. Supreme Court.

For some insiders, the Washington appeals court represents the legal version of Triple-A baseball, the last destination before a player hits the majors.

Obama's Labor Nominee Faces GOP Opposition Over His Role In A Supreme Court Case

Carrie Johnson — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 22:18:00 +0000

Thomas Perez, the president's nominee to lead the Department of Labor and a high-profile Latino advocate for civil rights, is scheduled for a Senate confirmation hearing April 18.

High Court's Decision On Federal Marriage Law Has Tax Implications

Carrie Johnson — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 07:25:00 +0000

When advocates for gay marriage talk about it, they usually focus on the struggle for equality and civil rights.

But how the Supreme Court decides the Defense of Marriage Act case being argued this week could possibly have big implications in another arena — the money same-sex couples owe the Internal Revenue Service.

The case that could throw out a law that defines marriage as between a man and woman started with a tax bill.

The ruling by a three judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C.

50 Years After Key Case, Problems Defending The Poor Persist

Carrie Johnson — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 09:12:00 +0000

Next week marks the 50th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision in which the justices unanimously ruled that defendants facing substantial jail time deserved legal representation in state courts, even if they couldn't afford to pay for it.

The ruling came in the case of Clarence Earl Gideon, a drifter convicted of breaking and entering after he was forced to defend himself.

Labor Relations Board Will Take Recess Appointment Decision To Supreme Court

Carrie Johnson — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 22:32:00 +0000

The National Labor Relations Board says it will ask the Supreme Court to review a lower court decision that invalidated three of President Obama's recess appointments, casting a legal cloud over more than 1,000 board actions over the past year.

In a blockbuster January ruling, three judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C.

Justice's Voting Rights Unit Suffers 'Deep Ideological Polarization' Says Watchdog

Carrie Johnson — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 21:06:00 +0000

The Justice Department's voting rights unit suffers from "deep ideological polarization" and a "disappointing lack of professionalism" including leaks of sensitive case information, harassment and mistreatment among colleagues who have political differences, department watchdogs concluded Tuesday.

Inspector General Michael Horowitz said he found "insufficient" evidence to support the most damaging claims Congressmen asked him to investigate: that leaders in the Bush and Obama administrations refused to enforce voting laws on behalf of a particular group of voters, favoring African Americans

When Rand Paul Ended Filibuster, He Left Drones On National Stage

Carrie Johnson — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 09:39:00 +0000

Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky launched a nationwide conversation last week with his 13-hour filibuster of the president's nominee to lead the CIA.

Paul vowed to keep talking until the White House clarified whether it has authority to kill U.S.

Justice Department Warns Of 'Pain' From Looming Cuts

Carrie Johnson — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 22:38:00 +0000

President Obama minced no words when he talked about how the looming budget cuts known as sequestration could hurt the Justice Department.

"FBI agents will be furloughed. Federal prosecutors will have to close cases and let criminals go," Obama said.

Starting late Friday, if Congress and the White House can't come to an agreement, the Justice Department will face $1.6 billion in cuts — about 9 percent of its budget.

Would-Be Federal Judges Face The Washington Waiting Game

Carrie Johnson — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 20:03:00 +0000

To understand what's happening with federal judge vacancies, consider this: The Senate voted Monday night to approve the nomination of Robert Bacharach to sit on the federal appeals court based in Denver.

Bacharach had won support from both Republican senators in his home state, and his nomination was approved unanimously. But he still waited more than 260 days for that vote.

Those delays are becoming a source of frustration for White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler.