Department of Justice news stories on Newser

DOJ Should Have Gone After Amazon, Not Apple

Evann Gastaldo — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 12:31:21 CDT

When the Justice Department decided to take on "the monopolistic monolith that threatened to dominate the book industry," it chose the wrong targets —five large publishers plus minor e-book player Apple—while ignoring the all-powerful Amazon, writes a dumbfounded David Carr in the New York Times . "That’s the modern equivalent...

Birther Sheriff, Feds Clash Over Monitors

Mark Russell — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 04:24:05 CDT

Talks between the Department of Justice and Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio have broken down, and now the feds are threatening to sue over the sheriff's alleged abuses against Hispanic suspects, reports the Washington Post . The Justice Department is insisting Arpaio's Maricopa County sheriff office take on a court-appointed monitor to...

Schumer: Re-Examine All 'Stand Your Ground' Laws

Mark Russell — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 04:07:12 CDT

New York Senator Chuck Schumer is calling on the Department of Justice to re-examine measures in all 24 states that have "Stand Your Ground" self-defense laws, reports CBS News . Calling Stand Your Ground "a whole new concept in our jurisprudence," Schumer is urging an investigation to see "whether they actually...

Feds: AT&T Put Fraud on Government Tab

Kevin Spak — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 09:51:05 CDT

The Justice Department has accused AT&T of bilking the government out of more than $16 million by purposely allowing Nigerian fraudsters to abuse a service intended to help deaf Americans. AT&T says it's just following FCC rules requiring it to offer a free IP Relay service, which allows the deaf...

Trayvon Martin Shooting to Get 2nd Look by DOJ, FBI

Evann Gastaldo — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 05:11:00 CDT

Almost a month after the killing of unarmed teen Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida, the FBI, the Department of Justice, and Florida's Department of Law Enforcement have agreed to get involved, the Miami Herald reports. The agencies will probe the case amid accusations from the teen's family and civil rights...

Justice Dept. Strikes Down Texas Voter ID Law

Kevin Spak — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 11:44:05 CDT

The Obama administration has stepped in to block a controversial Texas law requiring voters to have a special ID card, on the grounds that it discriminates against minorities, particularly Hispanics. The Justice Department concluded that there was little evidence of voter fraud that would justify the law, and that it...

Holder: We Didn't Lie About 'Fast and Furious'

Kevin Spak — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:40:25 CST

Eric Holder angrily denied that the Justice Department was trying to hide anything about the botched "Operation Fast and Furious" program in his testimony before Congress today—and insisted that he'd had no knowledge of the gun-tracking operation. "There's no attempt at any kind of coverup," the attorney general said,...

BofA Pays $335M to Settle Claims Over Minority Loans

John Johnson — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:36:22 CST

Bank of America's purchase of Countrywide in 2008 just got more expensive. BofA agreed today to pay $335 million to settle a Justice Department complaint that Countrywide discriminated against black and Hispanic home buyers. The Wall Street Journal calls it the "largest residential fair-lending settlement in history." The allegations said...

Sheriff Joe Fires Back at Feds' Allegations

Matt Cantor — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 07:14:10 CST

Arizona's embattled Sheriff Joe Arpaio is hitting back at Justice Department allegations that his office shows "a pervasive culture of discriminatory bias" against Hispanics. "Don't come to use me as a whipping boy for a national, international problem," he told reporters, saying he has "an idea of the politics involved...