Category: USDoJ

Shocking News: Attorney General Claims to Be Head of the Justice Department

by · Sep 16, 2020 8:51 pm

Like much of the press, the Washington Post has walked away from its honorable role as a liberal but generally honest reporter of the news, and has become instead a relentless bullhorn for the Biden campaign and anything it thinks will assist that campaign.  Today’s breathless story starts off with, “Attorney General William P. Barr delivered a scathing critique of his own Justice Department on Wednesday night, insisting on his absolute authority to overrule career staff, who he said too often injected themselves into politics and went ‘headhunting’ for high-profile targets.”

What have we come to?  The AG thinks he can overrule a GS 15?  Gads, I need my smelling salts. Continue reading . . .

Sedition Charges Coming from DOJ?

by · Sep 16, 2020 11:23 am

The Wall Street Journal reports:

Attorney General William Barr told the nation’s federal prosecutors to be aggressive when charging violent demonstrators with crimes, including potentially prosecuting protesters for plotting to overthrow the U.S. government, people familiar with the conversation said.

Continue reading . . .

Jeff Sessions, an Appreciation

by · Jul 15, 2020 6:03 am

Former Attorney General and US Senator Jeff Sessions yesterday lost his bid to return to the Senate when he was defeated in the Alabama Republican primary.  In my view, Sessions was one of the very best members of Congress in standing up for sober criminal justice policies.  He did this for most of his public life, starting in 1975 when he became an Assistant US Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama.  In 1981, President Reagan appointed him to be US Attorney; in 1994, he was elected Attorney General of Alabama, and two years later, he handily won a Senate seat.  He served in the Senate until President Trump appointed him Attorney General in February 2017.  He resigned, at the President’s insistence, 20 months later.

Although Sessions’ contributions to sound criminal justice policy were substantial to say the least, they are not, in my view, the reason for which his public service should best be remembered.

Continue reading . . .

Revisiting the Roger Stone Sentencing

by · Jun 23, 2020 2:53 pm

Tomorrow, one of the line prosecutors in the Roger Stone case will testify before the House Judiciary Committee.  A news story relating part of his prepared testimony tells us that the attorney, Aaron Zelinsky, plans to say, among other things:

What I saw was the Department of Justice exerting significant pressure on the line prosecutors in the case to obscure the correct Sentencing Guidelines calculation to which Roger Stone was subject – and to water down and in some cases outright distort the events that transpired in his trial and the criminal conduct that gave rise to his conviction….What I heard – repeatedly – was that Roger Stone was being treated differently from any other defendant because of his relationship to the President. I was told that the Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Timothy Shea, was receiving heavy pressure from the highest levels of the Department of Justice to cut Stone a break, and that the U.S. Attorney’s sentencing instructions to us were based on political considerations.

Zelinsky’s account seems both odd and oddly incomplete.

Continue reading . . .

Can the President Fire a Court-Appointed US Attorney?

by · Jun 21, 2020 6:54 am

Geoffrey Berman was appointed interim US Attorney for the Southern District of New York (Manhattan) by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions.  After his 120-day interim appointment had run its course, he was re-appointed by the US District Court.  Over the last couple of days, we have seen quite a drama as Attorney General Barr announced Berman’s “resignation;” Berman said he had never resigned and was staying put until a successor was confirmed; Barr then fired him, saying it was at the direction of the President; and (yesterday) Berman said he was resigning forthwith.

The House Judiciary Committee has scheduled a hearing to look into this.  No doubt it will be chock full of politics and accusations that the President and/or Barr were trying to derail potentially damaging investigations in the run-up to the election.  In this post, however, I’m going to put the politics to one side and address the quite interesting question whether, under the governing statutes and the Constitution’s separation of powers principle, the President can fire a court-appointed US Attorney. Continue reading . . .

The Standard under which the Flynn Case Should Be Decided, and the Correct Result

by · Jun 10, 2020 5:12 pm

On Friday, the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit will hear oral argument on the petition for mandamus to require the district court to grant the government’s motion to dismiss the case against Gen. Michael Flynn.  Fed. R. Crim. P. 48(a) permits the government, “with leave of court,” to dismiss the prosecution.  The key question, then, is how much discretion the district court has under the “leave of court” language and under what standards that discretion should be exercised. Continue reading . . .

Circuit Split on Sanctuary Cities and Byrne Grants

by · Feb 27, 2020 10:59 am

Yesterday the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit decided in favor of the federal government in New York v. USDOJ, No. 19-267. The court upheld the authority of DoJ to withhold federal funds for state and local law enforcement in the Byrne Grant program from jurisdictions that refuse certain cooperation with enforcement of federal immigration law.

This decision creates a split of authority among the federal circuits, as the Seventh, Third, and Ninth Circuits have decided differently. Unless the full Second Circuit overrules the three-judge panel, the Supreme Court is likely to resolve the issue.

Continue reading . . .