Joe Arpaio

'Nothing Changes': How Sheriff Joe Arpaio Went To Battle Against Civil Rights Laywers Back In 1997

Nick R. Martin | May 11, 2012, 5:49AM

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio talks with media during a news conference announcing the opening of Tent City II in Phoenix, Tuesday, May 9,1995.

Joe Arpaio has been here before. At another time, during another Democratic administration, the tough talking Arizona sheriff was hit with a federal civil rights lawsuit designed to end the abusive practices of his agency.

It was 1997 when the sheriff, then 65, took to a press conference in Phoenix to react to news that the U.S. Justice Department was suing him for what it alleged was a longstanding mistreatment of inmates in his jails.

According to news reports from the time, he promised he would not back down. Everything was going to stay the same. "Nothing changes," he said.

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Joe Arpaio

As Feds Sue Arpaio, Criminal Investigation Still Looms

Nick R. Martin | May 10, 2012, 6:52PM

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio talks about the sign he unveiled at ''Tent City'' in the Maricopa County Jail system announcing the number of inmates who have ''served'' time there.

At a big news conference in downtown Phoenix on Thursday, the Justice Department's top civil rights lawyer described Sheriff Joe Arpaio's office as an agency out of control.

"At its core, this is an abuse of power case," assistant attorney general Thomas Perez said while announcing a massive civil rights lawsuit against the Arizona lawman.

But despite the tough talk, the reality is that little in the sheriff's office is likely to change anytime soon because, as Perez acknowledged, the lawsuit could take years to resolve.

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Joe Arpaio

Justice Department Sues Sheriff Joe Arpaio Over Alleged Latino Abuse

Ryan J. Reilly | May 10, 2012, 12:22PM

Updated: 12:45PM

The Justice Department finally filed suit against Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his Maricopa County Sheriff's Office on Thursday, accusing the Arizona official of engaging "in a pattern or practice of unlawful discriminatory police conduct directed at Latinos in Maricopa County."

Federal authorities allege that Arpaio and his office have unconstitutionally and unlawfully targeted Latinos during traffic stops and during crime suppression operations. DOJ alleges that MCSO unlawfully detained Latino drivers and passengers and conducted unconstitutional searches and seizures in addition to illegally targeting Latino workers during worksite raids.

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Joe Arpaio

Justice Department To Sue Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio Over Civil Rights Abuses

Ryan J. Reilly | April 11, 2012, 11:35PM

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, with Cold Case Posse lead investigator Michael Zullo by his side.

The Justice Department has given up on settling with Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio and is planning to sue the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office for systematic civil rights abuses of Hispanic residents, a DOJ official indicated in a terse letter to Arpaio's lawyer on Wednesday.

"It is clear that DOJ's concerted effort to attain voluntary compliance by your client has failed," Deputy Assistant Attorney General Roy Austin of DOJ's Civil Rights Division wrote in a letter to Arpaio lawyer Joseph Popolizio obtained by TPM.

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Joe Arpaio

Arpaio: Feds Want To 'Control Everything I Do' (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | April 4, 2012, 3:50PM

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio -- who previously claimed he was cooperating with the Justice Department in an attempt to settle allegations that he violated the civil rights of Latinos in his jurisdiction -- told Fox News on Wednesday that he'll "be glad to meet them in court."

DOJ cut off negotiations with Arpaio Tuesday saying he had refused to let an independent monitor be a part of any settlement agreement.

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Joe Arpaio

DOJ Cuts Off Negotiations With Sheriff Joe Arpaio In Civil Rights Probe

Ryan J. Reilly | April 3, 2012, 4:33PM

Updated: April 4, 4:45PM

The Justice Department Civil Rights Division has cut off negotiations with Joe Arpaio's Maricopa County Sheriff's Office over their refusal to consider an independent monitor to prevent future violations of civil rights. DOJ Deputy Assistant Attorney General Roy Austin said in a letter to Arpaio's lawyer that a monitor would be a non-negotiable component of any settlement.

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Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai

'No Strings Attached': Man Claims Secret $3.5M From Pakistani Spy Agency Had No Influence

Ryan J. Reilly | April 3, 2012, 6:27AM

Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai

Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai admits that he concealed more than $3.5 million in secret funds that his Kashmiri American Council (KAC) received from Pakistan's spy agency. He just doesn't think all that cash from Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI) had any impact on his work.

Fai was sentenced to two years in prison on Friday for his role in a scheme that used straw donors to hide the foreign money Fai used to lobby on behalf of his native Kashmir.

While the 62-year-old had already pleaded guilty back in December, he argued that his lobbying efforts were not affected by the millions he received from Pakistan's intelligence agency.

"Because he needed financial resources, Dr. Fai was willing to accept funding from any donor that was willing to contribute as long as there were no strings attached to the receipt of the funds," his lawyer in a court document ahead of his sentencing.

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Voter Identification

Texas Tries To Keep Voter ID Debate Secret

Ryan J. Reilly | April 2, 2012, 11:20AM

The state of Texas wants the discussions their Republican legislators had about passing a voter ID law to stay secret.

Texas, which sued the federal government in an attempt to have their voter ID law approved, said in a court filing last month that "communications between members of the state legislature, communications between state legislators and their staff, and communications between state legislators and their constituents" should be protected by legislative privilege. The state also tried to prevent officials with the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division from deposing legislators who supported the voter ID legislation known as SB 14.

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Hutaree

Feds Calls Hutaree Trial Outcome 'Disappointing'

Ryan J. Reilly | March 29, 2012, 12:45PM

The larger conspiracy case against members of a Christian militia has fallen apart, but the feds still got guilty pleas on Thursday on charges the Hutaree's leader and his 23-year-old son possessed illegal machine guns.

David Stone, Sr. and Joshua Stone "admitted that they possessed machine guns, specifically a Bushmaster .223 caliber rifle and a Double Star Corp. .223 caliber rifle, respectively, knowing that the firearms would shoot, and were designed to shoot, automatically more than one shot ,without manual reloading, by a single function of then trigger," according to a Justice Department press release.

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Hutaree

Judge Tosses Conspiracy Charges In Hutaree Militia Case

Ryan J. Reilly | March 27, 2012, 3:00PM

In a major blow to the federal case against members of the extremist Hutaree militia, a federal judge has thrown out conspiracy charges against all of the members, leaving five members of the group off the hook completely.

Two defendants -- accused ringleader David Stone Sr. and his son Joshua Stone, are still facing weapons charges, the Detroit Free Press reports. Nine members had originally been charged in a conspiracy to attack police and start a battle with federal authorities.

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Ted Stevens

Judge Demands Report On Prosecutorial Misconduct In Ted Stevens Case Be Made Public

Ryan J. Reilly | February 8, 2012, 10:20AM

Former Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK)

A federal judge in D.C. ruled Wednesday that an unredacted copy of an independent report on prosecutorial misconduct during the federal investigation of the late Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens (R) has to be made public by March 15.

U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan said the report written by Henry F. Schuelke "chronicles significant prosecutorial misconduct in a highly publicized investigation and prosecution brought by the Public Integrity Section against an incumbent United States Senator."

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Joe Arpaio

DOJ Is Sorry If Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Feelings Were Hurt When They Disclosed His Civil Rights Abuses

Ryan J. Reilly | January 5, 2012, 6:28PM

Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio

You know how when you're trying to avoid apologizing to someone who's upset you throw in a qualifier like "sorry you're upset" or "sorry you feel that way"? That's the type of classic non-apology that a Justice Department official gave to officials representing Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio who were perturbed by the DOJ's press conference announcing the findings of an investigation into wide-spread civil rights abuses in Arpaio's office.

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South Carolina

BREAKING: Justice Department Blocks South Carolina's Voter ID Law

Ryan J. Reilly | December 23, 2011, 4:03PM

Updated: Dec. 23, 2011, 5:28PM

The U.S. Department of Justice will block the voter ID provisions of an election law passed in South Carolina earlier this year because the state's own statistics demonstrated that the photo identification requirement would have a much greater impact on non-white residents, DOJ said in a letter to the state on Friday.

The decision places the federal government squarely in opposition to the types of voter ID requirements that have swept through mostly Republican-controlled state legislatures.

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Vern Buchanan

Sessions Defends Buchanan Over Allegations Of Illegal Campaign Finance Scheme

Ryan J. Reilly | December 16, 2011, 2:00PM

Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL)

Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, is defending NRCC Finance Chair Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) over allegations he schemed to illegally reimburse employees of his former car dealership for donations to his political campaign.

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Joe Arpaio

Arpaio Critics: Want Reform? Sheriff Joe Has To Go

Ryan J. Reilly and Jillian Rayfield | December 15, 2011, 5:12PM

The findings in DOJ's investigation of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office didn't surprise many local longtime critics of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, many of whom said Thursday that his departure would be the only way to put a stop to his office's deep-seated bias.

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DOJ

DOJ Report: DEA Needs To Be More Covert About Their Undercover Airplanes

Ryan J. Reilly | December 14, 2011, 12:55PM

The Drug Enforcement Administration needs to keep their undercover aerial operations targeting narcotics trafficking along the Mexican border and in foreign countries a bit more hush-hush, according to a new report from the Justice Department's inspector general.

As of March, DOJ investigators searching the FAA aircraft registration database were able to find records of 25 domestically-based DEA aircraft that "should have been registered covertly to fictitious or cover organizations but that were not." As of Sept. 7, 13 DEA aircraft that should have been registered covertly still weren't (TPM found five planes registered still registered to the DEA in a search of the FAA's database on Wednesday).

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Eric Holder

Obama Administration Backs Bill Combating Voter Intimidation, Deception

Ryan J. Reilly | December 13, 2011, 6:05PM

United States Attorney General Eric Holder

The Obama administration is signaling support for a forthcoming Senate bill that would impose tough criminal and civil penalties on individuals who make and distribute campaign literature with false information intended to deceive voters and suppress turnout.

Attorney General Eric Holder will announce in a major speech on voting rights in Texas on Tuesday night that Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) will introduce the bill on Wednesday. The bill will be "narrowly tailored" to respect provisions of the First Amendment, according to Cardin's office. It will apply to "only a small category of false communications that occur during the last 90 days before an election, such as literature listing the wrong date or time for the election, giving inaccurate information about voter eligibility, or promoting false endorsements of candidates." A nearly identical bill was introduced by Schumer and then-Sen. Barack Obama back in 2007 but never passed.

In his speech at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library And Museum in Austin, Holder will call for election systems "that are free from fraud, discrimination, and partisan influence" and will say that protecting the right to vote and combating discrimination "must be viewed, not only as a legal issue - but as a moral imperative." Holder's speech also offers a challenge:

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Fast And Furious

Emails Show DOJ Trusted ATF Denials Of Fast And Furious 'Gun Walking' Allegations

Ryan J. Reilly | December 5, 2011, 3:06PM

Attorney General Eric Holder testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee in a hearing examining the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms' botched gun-walking operation, Fast and Furious. November, 8, 2011.

It was early 2011. Reports that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had let guns "walk" across the border to Mexico were only just starting to emerge. Sen. Chuck Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote a letter to to the Justice Department on Jan. 27 asking if an assault rifle bought by a suspected "straw purchaser" during an ATF-authorized transaction with a firearms dealer was found at the murder scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.

If contemporaneous emails sent by Justice Department officials are any indication, they didn't have any clue what Grassley was talking about. And when officials in the U.S. Attorney's office in Arizona and at ATF headquarters assured them gun walking wasn't going on, they took them at their word and adopted that false position as the official stance of the Justice Department.

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Utah

Obama Justice Department Sues Utah Over Immigration Law

Ryan J. Reilly | November 22, 2011, 5:40PM

Updated: Nov. 22, 6:10PM

Add Utah to the list of states the federal government has sued over their controversial immigration laws.

In a suit filed in federal court in Utah late Tuesday, Justice Department officials argue that the government "has preeminent authority to regulate immigration matters."

"Utah's adoption of its own immigration policy disrupts the federal government's ability both to administer and enforce the federal immigration laws including as set forth in the Immigration and Nationality Act ("INA"), and to establish and pursue federal policies and priorities pertaining to, inter alia, the identification, apprehension, detention and removal of aliens unlawfully in the United States," the suit claims.

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FBI

FBI Was Concerned NYPD's 'Lone Wolf' Case Raised Issues Of Entrapment

Ryan J. Reilly | November 21, 2011, 3:35PM

Jose Pimentel wasn't exactly hiding.

The 27-year-old accused of plotting to attack New York with pipe bombs was operating a website that espoused his beliefs in committing terror against the U.S. and was relatively well known in law enforcement circles.

Federal authorities passed on the case -- with one source telling TPM on Sunday night that the FBI passed several times, and an official telling the Associated Press on Monday that Pimentel "didn't have the predisposition or the ability to do anything on his own." That's leaving observers wondering what exactly the feds didn't like about the case and setting up another squabble in the long-running turf war between the New York Police Department and the FBI.

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Ted Stevens

Senators Press Holder On Probe Of Ted Stevens Trial

Ryan J. Reilly | November 10, 2011, 6:00AM

Former Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK)

Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens (R) died 15 months ago. Two-and-a-half-years earlier, the federal corruption case against him was dropped due to allegations of prosecutorial misconduct. Now Attorney General Eric Holder says DOJ's internal investigators are "in the last stages of their examination" of what went wrong in the case and that a multi-hundred page report is on its way.

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FBI

Holder: Anti-Muslim Training At FBI, DOJ Can 'Undermine' Outreach Efforts

Ryan J. Reilly | November 8, 2011, 1:20PM

Anti-Muslim training materials used by FBI and Justice Department personnel are "inconsistent" with DOJ's Muslim outreach efforts and can undermine such relationships, Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday.

Positions expressed in the materials -- including that all Muslims are likely terrorist sympathizers and that the Prophet Muhammad was a "cult leader" -- "do not reflect the views of the Justice Department and the FBI," Holder said.

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Fast And Furious

NRA: Obama Let Guns Walk To Mexico To Crackdown On Gun Rights

Ryan J. Reilly | November 7, 2011, 1:56PM

Just how dedicated does the National Rifle Association think the Obama administration is to destroying the Second Amendment? The director of the organization thinks that DOJ gave weapons to Mexican drug cartels during Operation Fast and Furious in an effort to churn up support for changing gun laws.

National Rifle Association Director Wayne LaPierre -- who has also suggested that the fact that Obama has not cracked down on guns is just part of a long term scheme to actually crack down on guns -- has been recently floating the conspiracy theory that Fast and Furious was a way to impose stricter guns laws.

"It's the only thing that makes any sense," LaPierre told Newsmax. "Over a period of two or three years they were running thousands and thousands of guns to the most evil people on earth. At the same time they were yelling '90 per cent... of the guns the Mexican drug cartels are using come from the United States.'"

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Alabama

DOJ To Alabama AG: You Can't Tell Schools Not To Give Us Enrollment Data

Ryan J. Reilly | November 4, 2011, 2:03PM

Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange (R)

Yes, Alabama school districts, you do have to turn over your enrollment data to the Justice Department.

Earlier this week, DOJ wrote a number of school districts requesting enrollment data as part of their investigation into whether Alabama's harsh immigration law is forcing students out of school, in violation of federal law.

But Republican Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange questioned DOJ's authority to request the data and interim school superintendent Larry Craven told schools to hold off on turning over any data until the disagreement was settled.

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FBI

FBI Calling In West Point To Help Crackdown On Anti-Muslim Counterterrorism Training

Ryan J. Reilly | November 3, 2011, 2:40PM

In an effort to stomp out anti-Muslim counterterrorism training at the the FBI, the bureau is calling in reinforcements.

Spencer Ackerman reports over at Wired that the FBI is turning to the Army's Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, a request that "represents a frank admission from the FBI that it requires outside help to reform."

The bureau, Ackerman reports, reached out to Bill Braniff, a retired Army captain who directs Practitioner Education at West Point. He "spent much of October in meetings at Bureau Headquarters in Washington D.C. designing what a source familiar with the process describes as 'guidelines for objectionable material' to exclude from agent training." He continues:

In its eight-year history, the CTC has built a reputation as a non-ideological haven for rigorous, data-driven counterterrorism research. It compiled perhaps the most thorough profile ever of the foreign fighters that flocked to Iraq, based on captured military documents. Its monthly newsletter, the CTC Sentinel, is widely read in counterterrorism circles. Not only does CTC teach the Army's cadets at West Point, who will have to distinguish between Muslim civilians and insurgents in warzones, it consults for state and local police -- and the FBI.

An FBI official told TPM that the Army's role in the review is a bit "overstated." In a statement provided by the bureau, the FBI said a "core review team included FBI and non-FBI personnel with academic training in areas of Islamic studies and Arab history" which "established guidelines to provide concrete enterprise-wide guidance on the training of counterterrorism and countering violent extremism topics."

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The Colbert Report

Stephen Colbert Isn't Giving Up On 'Muffingate' (VIDEO)

David Taintor | November 3, 2011, 11:30AM

Stephen Colbert

Stephen Colbert on Wednesday took on the final chapter of "muffingate," the saga of the Justice Department allegedly spending $16 per muffin at a conference.

"Why would the government spend $16 on a muffin when they can go to Starbucks and get one for $14," Colbert asked.

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DOJ Civil Rights Division

Feds To Alabama: No, You Can't Discriminate Against School Kids

Ryan J. Reilly | November 1, 2011, 12:40PM

The Justice Department sent a letter to school districts in Alabama on Tuesday reminding them that they can't deny a child access to public education due to his or her immigration status.

Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez's letter comes after he expressed concern that Alabama's anti-illegal immigration law was keeping children out of school because their parents are scared about the impact of the law. A federal judge has blocked portions of the harsh anti-illegal immigration measure.

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South Carolina

DOJ Files Suit Against South Carolina Immigration Law, Says Others Could Come Soon

Ryan J. Reilly | October 31, 2011, 5:10PM

The Justice Department filed suit on Monday to block South Carolina's immigration law, saying that the law interfered with the federal government's supremacy on the issue of immigration.

South Carolina's statute, enacted on June 27, criminalizes the presence of an illegal immigrant in the state. DOJ's complaint says that the Constitution and federal law "do not permit the development of a patchwork of state and local immigration policies throughout the country." South Carolina's law, DOJ officials claimed, "clearly conflicts with the policies and priorities adopted by the federal government and therefore cannot stand."

"Pushing undocumented immigrants out of one state to another is simply not a solution to our immigration problems," DOJ Assistant Attorney General Tony West said in a press call on Monday. "We believe South Carolina's law... crosses the constitutional line."

West mentioned that DOJ has had discussions with the Attorney Generals of Utah, Georgia and Indiana about their immigration laws.

"The United States will decide whether and when the bring lawsuits challenging particular state laws," West said.

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$16 muffin

An Obituary: The $16 Muffin Myth (9/20/11 - 10/28/11)

Ryan J. Reilly | October 28, 2011, 4:00PM

Simon Greig / Shutterstock

October 28, 2011: The day the muffin myth died.

The $16 muffin myth, 38 days old, had a short but eventful life. Conceived by mistake due to a misreading of incomplete expenditure information from an August 2009 conference at the Capital Hilton in D.C., the $16 muffin was born in a Justice Department Inspector General report on September 20, 2011.

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Rick Perry

Feds: Rick Perry-Signed Texas Redistricting Plan Reduces Voting Power Of 479,704 Hispanics

Ryan J. Reilly | October 26, 2011, 6:00AM

Texas Governor and Presidential Candidate Rick Perry (R)

There is "ample circumstantial evidence" that the congressional and state representative redistricting maps signed by Texas Gov. Rick Perry had not only the effect but the intent of limiting the voting power of Hispanic voters, Justice Department lawyers said in a court filing late Tuesday.

DOJ is seeking to block the maps, filing to deny Texas' request for summary judgement in a case involving allegations that state officials tried to limit the voter power of Hispanic voters in violation of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.

Federal lawyers contended in the newest filing that there is "ample circumstantial evidence of a discriminatory purpose with regard to both the State House and Congressional plans" and that in the new maps nearly half a million fewer Hispanics would live in districts where they would have the ability to elect a candidate of their choosing.

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COPS

CHART: Number Of Volunteers Performing Police Duties Triples

Ryan J. Reilly | October 24, 2011, 4:17PM

Volunteer civilians are increasingly filling police roles and nearly 12,000 police officers and sheriff's deputies will be laid off by the end of the year as local law enforcement agencies deal with budget cuts, according to a new report from DOJ's Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program. The study also shows the first-ever national decrease in law enforcement positions in the 25 years they've been collecting data.

"Across the country, mayors, sheriffs, and chiefs have been asked - not only to do more with less - but also to make painful budgetary cuts," Attorney General Eric Holder said in a speech on Monday. "According to a new economic outlook report that our COPS office released this week - we expect that, by the end of this year, nearly 12,000 police officers and sheriff's deputies will have been laid off."

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DOJ

Arab-American Leader Not Happy, But 'Optimistic' After Meeting With FBI On Anti-Muslim Training

Ryan J. Reilly | October 24, 2011, 10:15AM

An Arab-American leader who met with law enforcement officials earlier this month is optimistic that the FBI is taking the problem of anti-Muslim training materials seriously.

Abed Ayoub of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee attended a meeting that the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division hosted with other law enforcement officials on Oct. 14. The meeting was mentioned in a letter the Justice Department sent to Sens. Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins, who were concerned about federal funds flowing to local and state anti-Muslim terrorism training. Ayoub said that anti-Muslim training materials used by law enforcement were a major topic of discussion.

"I can't speak officially for the FBI, but what I can say is that I think they do understand the significance of what happend, they do understand the importance of getting this resolved and the impact on many members of the community," Ayoub told TPM. "They do understand that this needs to be resolved. I do have a sense that they understand the importance of this matter."

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Joe Lieberman

DOJ To Senators: Don't Blame Us For The Anti-Muslim Training We Funded

Ryan J. Reilly | October 21, 2011, 6:00AM

The Justice Department has a message for the Senators worried that federal funds are flowing to anti-Muslim training programs: no worries, we've got this thing.

TPM obtained a copy of a letter DOJ sent to Sens. Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins nearly six months after the lawmakers first asked for answers about biased counterterrorism training sessions being funded by taxpayers.

Basically there are two ways that federal dollars from the Justice Department could potentially fund biased training. First, there's DOJ's State and Local Anti-Terrorism Training (SLATT) program, which officials say they've got a pretty good handle on.

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Department of Justice

Advocates Give Government 'Mixed Review' On Combatting Post-9/11 Backlash

Ryan J. Reilly | October 19, 2011, 1:05PM

Discrimination and hatred against Muslim and Sikh-Americans continues to be a legacy of the September 11 attack, even ten years on, Deputy Attorney General James Cole said Wednesday.

"We must reject any suggestion that every Muslim is a terrorist or that every terrorist is a Muslim," Cole said. "As we have seen time and again -- from Oklahoma City to the recent attacks in Oslo, Norway -- no religion or ethnicity has a monopoly on terror."

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DOJ

DOJ: Issa's Theory That Gun Disappeared After Border Patrolman's Murder 'Maligns' FBI Agents

Ryan J. Reilly | October 17, 2011, 7:30PM

Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) said Sunday that he was worried about what he saw as certain inconsistencies in the investigation into the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and floated the theory that there was a third weapon at the scene. Federal officials say he didn't do his homework.

Two weapons linked to ATF's botched Fast and Furious operation (which allowed guns to "walk" into Mexico) had been found at the scene of Terry's death, but investigators haven't determined conclusively if one of those weapons killed him. It was Terry's murder that lead to complaints from ATF agents about the the bureau's anti-gun trafficking program.

"If weapon number one [which] appears to be missing were ballistically matched," Issa said on CBS "Face the Nation", "we would have an absolute rather than the inconsistency." From the interview:

Host Bob Schieffer: Are you suggesting that maybe that might be the gun, that evidence shows was the murder weapon, and for some reason the FBI has not disclosed that?

Chairman Issa: Well, we certainly want to know in some cases, as you know, there are investigations where there's materials that people feel are very sensitive.

Issa also added that the FBI "has a history in some cases of working with felons and criminals and hiding their other crimes."

A Justice Department spokeswoman said that Issa's false accusation "maligns the dedicated agents investigating the murder of Agent Terry" and "mischaracterizes evidence in an ongoing case."

"The FBI has made clear that reports of a third gun recovered from the perpetrators at the scene of Agent Terry's murder are false," Justice Department spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler said in a statement to reporters.

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Alabama

Appeals Court Partially Blocks Enforcement Of Alabama Immigration Law

Ryan J. Reilly | October 14, 2011, 1:45PM

Immigration bill protest at the state Capitol in Atlanta, Georgia, March 2011.

Updated: Oct. 14, 2:35PM

A federal appeals court on Friday blocked parts of a controversial Alabama immigration law.

The provisions that were enjoined -- section 10 and section 28 -- make it a crime for illegal immigrants to not have proper documentation and also make Alabama schools track the immigration status of their students.

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Thomas Perez

DOJ Official Worried About 'Vigilante Enforcement' Of Alabama's Harsh Immigration Law

Ryan J. Reilly | October 14, 2011, 12:10PM

Update, Oct. 14, 2:27PM: An appeals court has blocked certain provisions of the law.

It's "very clear" that Alabama's new anti-illegal immigration law is keeping children who are U.S. citizens out of school because their parents are scared about its impact, Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez told reporters Friday.

U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama Joyce Vance also said that federal officials were "hearing some concerns about vigilante enforcement of the law by private citizens."

"I don't want to overstate, we have heard folks expressing concern that this will take place" but haven't heard any actual reports of such incidents, Vance said. "I never like to be behind crime, I'd like to be in front of it."

"We always maintain awareness and alertness of potential hate crimes, so you know when we say 'vigilanteism' that really means the same thing as the traditional work that we do ensuring that the hate crimes laws in this country are fully enforced," Vance said.

Perez said that they were reviewing some "very troubling data" from schools regarding absentee and dropout data since the law went into effect. He also said there were getting reports of increases in bullying in the wake of the law.

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Kevin Ring

DOJ Wants Kevin Ring Sentenced To Two Months More Than Jack Abramoff

Ryan J. Reilly | October 12, 2011, 2:15PM

Federal prosecutors are asking a federal judge to send Jack Abramoff associate Kevin Ring to jail for four years and two months when he's sentenced on Oct. 26.

The Justice Department argued in a Tuesday filing that Ring should serve three years probation after his release and perform community service in lieu of a fine. Ring -- who was convicted of conspiracy, paying of an illegal gratuity and three counts of honest services fraud -- had asked for five years probation for his role in the Abramoff scandal.

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DOJ

Did Iranian Regime Approve Plot To Have Mexican Drug Cartel Member Kill Saudi Arabian Ambassador?

Ryan J. Reilly | October 12, 2011, 6:00AM

FBI Director Robert Mueller (Left) And U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder (Right)

It's not everyday that the U.S. Attorney General and director of the FBI stand at a press conference and accuse military officials in a foreign country of plotting to assassinate an ambassador to the United States.

But that's just what happened Tuesday, when Attorney General Eric Holder and FBI Director Robert Mueller went before the cameras at the Justice Department and laid out the details of an alleged plot to kill the Saudi Arabian Ambassador, involving a Texas-based Iranian-American named Manssor Arbabsiar.

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Barack Obama

What The Justice Department Can Actually Do About Voter ID Laws

Ryan J. Reilly | October 5, 2011, 5:45AM

President Barack Obama last week told a radio audience that he's made sure the Justice Department is reviewing restrictive voting laws passed across the country. But as a practical matter, DOJ's reach is limited.

Sure, federal officials with DOJ's Civil Rights Division are reviewing voter ID laws passed in South Carolina and Texas because both states have a history of discrimination and are covered by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. DOJ told South Carolina in August that they need more info before making a decision and in September told Texas they have more questions.

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