By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com The Justice Department has ended the controversial practice of asking defendants who plead guilty to waive their appellate rights over bad legal advice, CNN reports. In a memo issued Tuesday, the Justice Department said it will ban the waivers that are still used in 35 U.S. attorney offices. The waivers are controversial…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. has stuck around longer than many had anticipated. ButAl Kamen and Colby Itkowitz of the Washington Post say there’s speculation that he could call it quits, possibly by the end of the year. Then again, the Post writes, that the shooting of an unarmed teen…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com DEA Public Affairs Specialist David Ausiello is making a switch. Ausiello has been named Assistant Director for Communication and Law Enforcement Coordination at the Executive Office for the U.S. Attorneys. “Staying in the DOJ family…but moving up, over, and out,” Ausiello said in an email to members of the media on…
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 Former U.S. Attorneys from the Republican party sailed to victory Tuesday in Pennsylvania, Wyoming and Arkansas in an election that appeared to be a resounding referendum on the Obama administration. Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett, a former U.S. Attorney under George H.W. Bush, won the governorship in Pennsylvania, the website Main…
white house photo By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON — President Obama is lagging behind his two predecessors Bill Clinton and George W. Bush when it comes to installing U.S. Attorneys. The news website Main Justice reports that both Bush and Clinton had installed 81 U.S. Attorneys in their first 19 months compared to Obama’s 66….
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON — A lengthy criminal investigation into the controversial firings of U.S. Attorneys during the Bush years ended with a whimper Wednesday. The Associated Press reported that no criminal charges were warranted in the two-year probe that began looking at the firings of 9 U.S. Attorneys, but ended up honing in…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON — With the Obama administration seething over the Gulf oil spill, a criminal probe may be one way to express anger against BP. The Washington Post reports that Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. will visit the out-control spill in the Gulf on Tuesday and meet with U.S. Attorneys from…
