Attorney General Eric Holder used his testimony before a House committee on Thursday to tout the supposed need for new gun control laws to prevent “gun walking,” or the transportation of firearms across the Southern border. But he – and members of the committee – ignored existing laws that already accomplish Holder’s ostensible goals. “That is why we need a stronger gun trafficking law,” Holder said in response to questions about recourse against officials who signed off on the gun walking tactic. The tactic was integral to Operation Fast and …
As outlined in a Foundry post last week, the Justice Department’s objection to South Carolina’s new voter ID law is not based on the facts or the applicable law. Contrary to the Justice Department’s claims, the law is neither discriminatory nor a burden for voters, who can obtain a free ID if they don’t already have one. And the data show that almost 99 percent of registered voters in South Carolina already have a driver’s license or photo ID issued by the state Department of Motor Vehicles. If the Justice …
Today marks the one-year anniversary of the death of Marine and U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, and the start of the political firestorm surrounding the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Operation Fast and Furious. An AK-47 assault rifle used as part of the operation was found at the scene of Terry’s murder, near Rio Rico, AZ. It turned out to be one of more than 2,000 firearms the ATF allowed to pass into Mexico, with the understanding the guns would be handed off to violent drug cartels. …
In June 2010, J. Christian Adams resigned his post as a career attorney in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. Adams cited DOJ’s decision to abandon prosecution of two members of the New Black Panther Party who had brandished weapons outside of a Philadelphia polling station in 2008, shouting racial slurs at passers-by. Adams called it “the simplest and most obvious violation of federal law I saw in my Justice Department career.” The decision to drop the case – made by top officials at the Civil Rights Division – was …
A conservative congressman today called on Attorney General Eric Holder to resign after new revelations surfaced about his knowledge of the botched Fast and Furious gun-running operation. Beginning in July 2010, Holder received at least five memos about the flawed operation, but told Congress this May he had just learned of Fast and Furious weeks earlier. “As our nation’s top enforcer of the principles of law and justice, Mr. Holder has lost all credibility and should step down immediately,” Rep. Raúl Labrador said in a statement this afternoon. Holder testified …
Justice Department memos obtained by CBS News show that Attorney General Eric Holder was aware of a controversial cross-border law enforcement operation in July 2010 – nearly a year earlier than he had previously acknowledged. Holder told congressional investigators in May that he had first heard of the operation only weeks before. Testifying before the House Judiciary Committee in May 2011, Holder said that he had “probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks.” The Fast and Furious operation allowed “straw buyers” – …
The official who presided over the botched Fast and Furious gunwalking operation has stepped down as acting head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (known as ATF). He will move to another post at ATF, in the bureau’s Office of Legal Policy. Kenneth Melson bucked his superiors at the Justice Department in July by revealing details about the operation to congressional investigators in a closed door meeting with Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), who have been investigating the operation in their respective roles. …
Since Eric Holder took the reins as Attorney General, the Justice Department has hired 15 career attorneys in the Civil Rights Division’s Employment Litigation Section. Every one of them boasts stellar left-wing ideological credentials. All have either associated themselves with prominent Democrats, worked for left-wing legal organizations, or staked out left-wing positions on controversial issues. The complete political uniformity of this section aligns with DOJ’s hiring in four other sections of the Civil Rights Division. The Heritage Foundation’s Hans von Spakovsky has been documenting the left-wing dominance of the division …
Catching you up on clips, commentary and news of the day. Sign up for the daily email update from Scribe. A Politicized Justice Department Strikes Again – Hans von Spakovsky, National Review Online Social Security lies on super committee’s chopping block – Dorothy Zhang, Daily Caller Obama ‘No Child’ Waiver Proposals Rile Conservatives – Mallie Jane Kim, U.S. News & World Report Poverty Debate Raises Tension Between Obama and Black Leaders – Steven Gray, Time Block grants designed for needy end up in wealthier communities – Maureen Groppe, Indianapolis Star After …
The resumes of the Obama administration’s hires at the Justice Department Civil Right Division’s Special Litigation Section read like a manual on professional advancement in the world of left wing legal practice. Every one of the 23 career civil service attorneys hired since Obama took office has stellar liberal credentials. That ideological uniformity, writes the Heritage Foundation’s Hans von Spakovsky, suggests that liberal politics are a “prerequisite for employment in the Division – there is no other explanation for this.” The Special Litigation Section enforces civil rights laws on the …
