By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON — Is the Justice Department losing its nerve to go after Congress members? The New York Times reports that critics feel that way in wake of the dismissal of some high profile probes into members of Congress like Sen. John Ensign (R-Nevada) and Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.). “They’re gun-shy,” J….
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON — ATF has asked the White House to ok an emergency order to require gun dealers along the Mexico border to report sales of two or more rifles to the same person within five days, the Washington Post reported. The measure is part of an ongoing crackdown on the flow…
By The Los Angeles Times Editorial Page From Abscam to the arrest of former Washington Mayor Marion Barry on drug charges, sting operations have brought accusations that the government was entrapping its targets. This perennial complaint has acquired a new sensitivity with charges that the FBI, as part of its anti-terrorism activities, is inducing Muslims…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON — A government report found that U.S. Attorney’s Offices declined 50 percent of the cases from American Indian reservations from 2005-2009, the Associated Press reported. The Government Accountability Office report found that Federal prosecutors resolved 9,000 of the 10,000 cases they got during that period. Half were declined for prosecution…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON — Walk through any federal courthouse and it seems security is pretty tight. Still, a Justice Department Inspector General report on courthouse security says federal judges and personnel could be at risk because of poor training, questionable contracts and broken security equipment, the Washington Post reports. The Post’s Ed O’Keefe…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the FBI are investigating a deputy U.S. Marshal who fatally shot a tattoo parlor employee while off duty during a confrontation in Los Angeles in 2008, the Los Angeles Times reported. The local prosecutor had found inconsistencies in deputy marshal Matthew Itkowitz’s story, but…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON — A Justice Department policy during the Bush-era is about to get the boot. The Washington Post reports that Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. will issue a memo Thursday to U.S. Attorneys around the country saying that he’s overturning a policy which urged prosecutors to push defendants hammering out…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON — Senator Ted Stevens is dead and so is one of the prosecutors in the prosecution of the Stevens case, who committed suicide. On Monday, the latest twist in a perplexing case surfaced when NPR’s Carrie Johnson reported that the prosecutors in the bungled 2008 prosecution of the Alaskan senator…
