Latest Dismissal of United States Attorneys controversy Stories
WASHINGTON _ Aides to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales violated federal laws and Justice Department policies by illegally selecting employees based on their conservative and Republican leanings, a joint report by two department watchdog agencies reported Monday. The report by the department's inspector general and the Office of Professional Responsibility found that in some instances, especially involving the hiring of immigration judges, the improper screening was "systematic.""This...
By Jason Noble, The Kansas City Star, Mo. Jul. 20--JEFFERSON CITY -- The Missouri attorney general's office Friday asked a judge to appoint a special assistant attorney general in the pending lawsuit against Gov. Matt Blunt over e-mail records. Cole County Circuit Court Judge Richard Callahan recently dismissed the suit, ruling that the plaintiff, former Missouri Highway Patrol chief Mel Fisher, did not have standing. Fisher was appointed last year by Attorney General Jay Nixon to...
Former Bush White House political adviser Karl Rove and FOX News Channel representatives faced questions from TV critics in New York. The panel of the Television Critics Association spent a 45-minute Q& A session on topics ranging from President George Bush and Sen. John McCain's campaign strategy to FOX News policies and tactics, reported Alan Sepinwall, TV columnist for The Star-Ledger of Newark. It was not a lovefest but was far tamer than a similar session last week with executives of...
WASHINGTON, July 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Justice Department today announced that on Tuesday, July 15, 2008, it will monitor elections in the Georgia counties of Coffee, Dougherty and Long to ensure compliance with federal voting rights statutes. In 2006, the Justice Department and Long County settled a lawsuit regarding violations of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia, charged the county with...
By Reid J. Epstein, Newsday, Melville, N.Y. Jul. 14--While record-high gas prices are putting a crimp in Long Islanders' pocketbooks this summer, soaring home heating oil costs will be a shock this winter, Sen. Charles Schumer said yesterday. Schumer's office estimated that Long Islanders will pay a whopping $526 million more for home heating oil this winter than last. Schumer, a New York Democrat, said he and Sen. Bernie Sanders (Ind.-Vt.) plan to introduce a bill this week to add...
By Scott Lauck Ten-day window left for AG to join case A lawsuit over the e-mail policy of Gov. Matt Blunt might be doomed after a Cole County judge on Friday dismissed the suit on procedural grounds. In a brief order issued a day after he heard arguments in the case, Judge Richard Callahan said former Missouri State Highway Patrol Superintendent Mel Fisher lacked standing to bring the lawsuit. Fisher, who had been appointed by Attorney General Jay Nixon as an independent investigator, had...
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK The Bush administration's plan to let the free market play a role in easing gridlock at New York's congested airports has suffered a blow in Washington. A Senate subcommittee says it will block the U.S. Department of Transportation from implementing a plan to auction prime takeoff and landing slots at New York City's three main airports. Transportation officials say the auctions are one of the fairest ways to handle the ravenous demand for flight times at...
By Virginia Young, St. Louis Post-Dispatch Jul. 11--JEFFERSON CITY -- Cole County Circuit Judge Richard Callahan has dismissed a special investigative team's lawsuit that sought copies of Gov. Matt Blunt's e-mails. But the judge left open the possibility that the case could be revived if Attorney General Jay Nixon joins the suit. In an order issued shortly after noon today, Callahan said that the plaintiff, former Highway Patrol Col. Mel Fisher, lacks legal standing to bring the...
By Jason Noble, The Kansas City Star, Mo. Jul. 11--JEFFERSON CITY -- Attorneys on Thursday argued two motions in a lawsuit over access to e-mails from the governor's office, but a Cole County judge took no action in the hearing. In one motion, lawyers for Gov. Matt Blunt argued for dismissal of the lawsuit. In the other, an attorney representing The Kansas City Star and two other media outlets sought to join the case to compel the governor's office to release previously requested...
A Cole County judge was urged Thursday to dismiss a lawsuit over the state e-mail retention policy of Gov. Matt Blunt's office. Blunt's lawyer, John Holstein, a former state Supreme Court judge who is now in private practice, argued that there was no provision in state law for the lawsuit brought in the case. The suit was filed in May by Mel Fisher, a former superintendent of the Missouri State Highway Patrol who was appointed as an independent investigator in the matter. A lawsuit filed...
