MLM Counties News. Notices. Need-to-know Information.

U.S. Senate Republicans blocked a vote to confirm James M. Cole, the deputy attorney general appointed by President Barack Obama during a congressional recess. Cole’s nomination to the No. 2 job at the Justice Department failed to clear a procedural hurdle. With 60 votes needed for the Senate to move ahead on Cole’s nomination, today’s tally was 50 for doing so and 40 against, with 10 senators not voting.

The Obama administration reversed its plan to put the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks and his alleged conspirators on trial in civilian court in New York and instead will send the case to a military commission at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four alleged co-conspirators will face a military trial at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, said the officials, who weren’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Attorney General Eric Holder scheduled a news conference for 2 p.m. Monday in Washington to discuss the decision, the official said.

The U.S. Justice Department has decided not to file charges related to the firings of federal prosecutors during the Bush administration. A department investigation, triggered by the 2006 dismissal of nine U.S. attorneys, concluded there wasn’t sufficient evidence to pursue ...

Federal prosecutors closed an investigation into former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson without filing any charges, Jackson’s lawyers said. One of the attorneys, Jim Martin of Armstrong Teasdale in St. Louis, said Monday he was told of the ...

Attorney General Eric Holder clashed with Republican lawmakers over the Obama administration’s handling of terrorism, including plans to try terror suspects in civilian courts rather than before military commissions. At a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing on Tuesday, Republican John Culberson ...

Attorney General Eric Holder defended his decision to try five suspects in the Sept. 11 attacks in federal court in Manhattan and said they won’t be released in the U.S. if a jury acquits them. Holder said at a hearing ...

Tagged with: Eric Holder federal court Guantanamo Bay Senate Judiciary Committee terrorist trial

The Obama administration urged the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold a century-old ban on corporate political giving, saying the restrictions protect the free-speech rights of shareholders. The Justice Department, in a legal brief filed Wednesday, supported a lower court ruling ...

Tagged with: U.S. Supreme Court

The U.S. Justice Department denied a published report Tuesday that it may drop a civil lawsuit that seeks to force UBS AG, the largest Swiss bank by assets, to disclose the identities of 52,000 U.S. account holders. The New York ...

Tagged with: U.S. Justice Department UBS

Attorney General Eric Holder threw out a Bush administration rule saying illegal immigrants don’t have a constitutional right to effective legal representation in deportation proceedings. The original order was issued in January by then-Attorney General Michael Mukasey, according to a ...

Tagged with: Eric Holder illegal immigrants Michael Mukasey

Sonia Sotomayor’s path to a possible seat on the nation’s highest court began in public housing in a Spanish-speaking home in New York City’s South Bronx. Sotomayor’s father died when she was 9, and her mother, Celina, worked six days ...

Tagged with: Sonia Sotomayor