Justice Department

Tyre Nichols Death Spurs Justice Department Police Review

Adrian Sainz, Associated PressMarch 8, 2023

The Justice Department announced Wednesday, March 8, that it will review the Memphis Police Department policies on the use of force, de-escalation strategies and specialized units in response to the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols during an arrest. Meanwhile, a judge ordered that video footage and other information pertaining to the Nichols case that was expected to be released Wednesday must be delayed to give lawyers time to review it.

A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand

Congressman James E. Clyburn House Majority Whip (D-SC)January 13, 2022

I listened intently this morning as our 46th President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris addressed the nation from Statuary Hall observing the first anniversary of last year’s insurrection. I found myself reflecting upon the attack on Pearl Harbor that thrusted us into a world war against a tyrannical foreign power.

National News Political

President Biden Seeks to Expand Access to Legal Counsel and Courts for Vulnerable Citizens

Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Senior National CorrespondentJune 24, 2021

On his first day in office, they noted that the President issued an executive order establishing a government-wide initiative to put equity at the heart of each agency’s priorities and management plan.

Op-Ed Opinion

Greater Justice is Coming: Taking on Abusive and Deadly Policing with New DOJ Leadership

Ben JealousMay 13, 2021

There are more signs that we can expect changes at the Justice Department.

National News Political

Dem’s Lawsuit Accuses Trump of Inciting Deadly Capitol Riot

Eric Tucker, Associated PressFebruary 18, 2021

The House Homeland Security chairman accused Donald Trump in a federal lawsuit Tuesday of inciting the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and conspiring with his lawyer and extremist groups to try to prevent Congress from certifying the results of the presidential election he lost to Joe Biden.

National News Political

Dissecting President Joe Biden’s Racial Equity Agenda: ‘The Time to Act is Now’

Betti Halsell Contributing WriterJanuary 28, 2021

There is new air surrounding the pillars of Capitol Hill, and within the first week of new leadership, Biden has directed his attention to the needs of the country. In addition to the concerns brought on by a global health tragedy, he has led his administration to focus on social equity. President Biden has been working diligently, making the concerns of underrepresented communities a priority in all federal agencies under his guidance.

National News News (Business)Political

Biden Administration to Appoint Kristen Clarke to Key Civil Rights Post

Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National CorrespondentJanuary 21, 2021

Clarke’s appointment adds even more diversity to an incoming administration that has kept its campaign promise to ensure that top staff and cabinet members reflect all of America. “Our first-rate nominees to lead the Justice Department are eminently qualified, embody character and judgment that is beyond reproach, and have devoted their careers to serving the American people with honor and integrity,” Biden said in a statement.

Marc Morial

Trump’s Justice Department Once Again Protects The Powerful At The Expense Of The Powerless

Marc Morial President and CEO National Urban LeagueJanuary 7, 2021

The decision not to charge the officers who shot and killed a Black child on sight encapsulates everything that is wrong with the Department of Justice under the current administration. Once again, it has protected the powerful at the expense of the powerless. Once again, it has failed to seek justice for a Black life.

National News

Black man shot by deputy held a sandwich, not a gun

AP News, FARNOUSH AMIRDecember 8, 2020

Civil rights and FBI investigators will help look into the fatal shooting by an Ohio sheriff’s deputy of a Black man whose family says that he was holding not a gun, but a sandwich, and that he was shot in front of two toddlers and his grandmother while inside his home, not outside it, as authorities assert.

Rev. Jesse Jackson

Voting Is the Centerpiece of Our Democracy

Rev. Jesse JacksonAugust 13, 2020

August 6 was the 55th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act. If the constitutional amendments passed after the Civil War — the 13, 14 and 15th Amendments — were the “second founding” of democracy in America, the Voting Rights Act, which after nearly a century of segregation gave legal effect to the 15th Amendment that outlawed discrimination in the right to vote, should be considered the “third founding.”

Local National News

Swift firings for Minneapolis officers in death of black man

AMY FORLITI and JEFF BAENEN Associated PressMay 27, 2020

Four officers were fired a day after George Floyd’s death, a stunning and swift move by the Minneapolis chief with the mayor’s full backing. But despite their dismissal, whether the incident will be considered criminal, or even excessive force, is a more complicated question that will likely take months to investigate.

The officers were dismissed soon after a bystander’s video taken outside a south Minneapolis grocery store Monday night showed an officer kneeling on the handcuffed man’s neck, even after he pleaded that he could not breathe and stopped moving. Floyd’s death prompted protests Tuesday, with thousands taking to the streets at the intersection where he died.

News Political

Harris to Graham: Hold Immediate Hearing on Roger Stone Case and Make AG Barr Testify

Sentinel News ServiceFebruary 14, 2020

U.S. Senator Kamala D. Harris (D-CA), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Tuesday sent a letter to Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC) demanding that the committee hold a hearing—with Attorney General Bill Barr as a witness—on potential political interference in the sentencing of Roger Stone, President Trump’s former campaign advisor and longtime friend. Harris’ letter comes after reports that the Department of Justice was considering reducing the sentencing recommendation put forward by the career prosecutors overseeing Stone’s case, all four of whom have since requested to withdraw from the case, and after the Department filed an updated sentencing recommendation in the case that contradicted the career prosecutors.

News Political

House Passes Bill to Restore Key Parts Of Voting Rights Act

Matthew Daly, Associated PressDecember 13, 2019

The Democratic-controlled House approved a bill Friday that would restore key sections of the Voting Rights Act that once required officials in all or parts of 15 mostly Southern states to receive federal approval before making changes to the voting process.

International National News Political

Harris, Blumenthal, Whitehouse Demand Documents on Trump’s Request for Barr News Conference

Sentinel News ServiceNovember 22, 2019

U.S. Senators Kamala D. Harris (D-CA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) on Friday sent a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to Attorney General William Barr seeking documents relevant to any attempt by President Trump to convince Barr to hold a news conference declaring Trump had broken no laws during his July 25, 2019 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

National News

Police Officer in ‘I Can’t Breathe’ Death Won’t Be Charged

MICHAEL BALSAMO MICHAEL R. SISAK COLLEEN LONG and TOM HAYS, Associated PressJuly 18, 2019

After years of silence, federal prosecutors said Tuesday that they won’t bring criminal charges against a white New York City police officer in the 2014 chokehold death of Eric Garner, a black man whose dying words — “I can’t breathe” — became a national rallying cry against police brutality.