department of justice
House holds billionaire Leon Black in contempt of Congress over Epstein investigation
WASHINGTON | The House approved a resolution Wednesday holding billionaire Leon Black in contempt of Congress, referring the matter to the Department of Justice after he defied the Oversight Committee’s subpoenas in its investigation into disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. The action was swift, and without a formal vote, and now leaves it to the Justice […]
Trump’s push to restrict mail ballots has failed. Other efforts to reshape the midterms are ongoing
NEW YORK | The Supreme Court this week closed the chapter on one of President Donald Trump’s boldest efforts to reshape November’s elections — a plan that would have demanded a dramatic overhaul of the nation’s mail voting processes on what most election officials agreed was an impossibly short timeline. But the case was just […]
Ex-Southern Poverty Law Center official charged in broader criminal case against group, lawyer says
WASHINGTON | A former Southern Poverty Law Center official has been charged in the Department of Justice’s broader criminal case against the Alabama-based civil rights group, a frequent target of conservative critics who claim the nonprofit is politically biased. Heidi Beirich, a political extremism expert who left the law center about six years ago, was […]
Judge criticizes the Justice Department as he dismisses Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy case
WASHINGTON | A federal judge decried efforts to rewrite the history of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol as he reluctantly dismissed the seditious conspiracy case against members of the far-right Oath Keepers extremist group at the Trump administration’s request. The move Tuesday closes the book on the Jan. 6 cases that were […]
After 6 years, Trump brings his election obsession to primetime at the White House
In the weeks after Donald Trump lost to Joe Biden in 2020, the people Trump appointed to run the Department of Justice, cybersecurity agencies and intelligence departments all said the same thing — the election was fair, legitimate and free of major fraud or foreign interference. In his second term, Trump, a Republican, has tried […]
DOJ’s immigrant voting letter to Colorado election officials labeled as intimidation tactic
This story was first published at Colorado Newsline. DENVER | Colorado’s secretary of state and voter advocates say they stand by Colorado’s election system and workers following the Trump administration’s latest attempt to target election officials. The U.S. Department of Justice sent a letter earlier this week that threatens criminal prosecution of election officials who […]
Trump administration’s Title IX enforcement questioned in Colorado school cases
This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. DENVER | An all-gender bathroom in a Denver high school was at the center of the first sex discrimination investigation of the second Trump administration. A year and a half later, the federal Office for Civil Rights has taken no enforcement action. Neighboring Jeffco Public Schools, meanwhile, has […]
Trump’s fixation on voting has had mixed results. He still has ways to affect November’s elections
ATLANTA | President Donald Trump has tried many ways to tighten his grip on U.S. elections, from signing executive orders to pushing restrictive legislation in Congress. Monday’s Supreme Court ruling siding with states that accept late-arriving mail ballots was the latest example showing the limits of his reach. It followed back-to-back rulings last week that […]
America split from monarchy 250 years ago. Trump’s presidency is testing how far it’s come
The 250th anniversary of America’s liberation from a king kicked off with a campaign-style rally on the National Mall by President Donald Trump, whose face already stares down from banners fluttering from federal buildings across the nation’s capital. The images illustrate how the Republican president has dominated daily life since returning to power and, to […]
Judge blocks use of federal database to check citizenship, saying it could wrongly purge voters
WASHINGTON | A federal judge on Monday ruled that a recently revamped version of a federal tool central to the Trump administration’s efforts to nationalize elections can no longer be used. U.S. District Court Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan sided with advocacy groups that argued the recent upgrades to the program, called Systematic Alien Verification for […]