Sen. John Conyers (D-MI) and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) have written to Attorney General Michael Mukasey pressing the Justice Department on its decision to foot the bill for lawyers hired to defend former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in a suit about politicized hiring practices. The DOJ had agreed to pay up to $24,000 per month, about twice the price of a public attorney, according to reports last week. (Politico)
Just be reasonable, a federal appeals court ruled Monday in a case about spying on American citizens abroad. The three-judge panel said the U.S. did not need warrants to conduct searches and electronic surveillance, but must meet the Fourth Amendment’s requirement for reasonableness. (New York Times)
The New York Times reveals New York Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel’s decision to support a tax loophole that allows companies to reduce taxes by opening offices abroad, despite his prior condemnation of it as unpatriotic. Rangel said he did not support closing the loophole because doing so would effectively impose a retroactive tax on the companies, something he opposes. Nabors Industries, which had lobbied aggressively in favor of the tax shelter, donated $1 million to a school project championed by the congressman. The two parties deny any quid pro quo. Rangel chairs the powerful Ways and Means committee and is a top fundraiser for other Democratic candidates. He faces an ethics investigation about charges that he did not disclose income drawn from real estate. (New York Times/Roll Call)
The nation’s largest Muslim charity and five of its former leaders were convicted Monday on 108 counts related to their financial support for Hamas, a terrorist organization. Defense lawyers had claimed that the money went to rebuilding schools and hospitals. (AP)
Whistleblowers who came forward about problems in the Air Marshall Service were ignored or punished, according to a report released today by the watchdog group Project on Government Oversight. The report singled out for particular rebuke Scott Bloch, the head of the Office of Special Counsel (and a TPMmuckraker fave), who has been on leave since an October raid by the FBI relating to obstruction of justice allegations. The Marshalls said they had not seen the report. (ProPublica)
The U.S. paid $49 million in unwarranted subsidies to farmers making more than $2.5 million in gross income, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Monday. (McClatchy)
President Bush yesterday pardoned 14 people, whose crimes included tax fraud, drug distribution, and violating an environmental law designed to protect bald eagles. The final round of presidential pardons has been highly anticipated, due to the large number of corruption convictions of GOP officials and lobbyists, and the chance that those who practiced or ordered harsh interrogation techniques at Guantanamo could yet be prosecuted. (ABC)
Alaskans for Truth, a political action committee, is calling for a resolution of the disparity between two investigations of Sarah Palin’s decision to fire state police commissioner Walt Monegan. An independent probe into Trooper-Gate concluded that she had broken state ethics laws and abused her position of power; another, conducted by the state personnel board, whose member’s are appointed by the governor, found no evidence of wrongdoing. The PAC seeks contempt charges filed against Todd Palin for his role in the matter, and a formal censure of the governor. (AP)
In March, the Pentagon narrowed the qualifications for combat-related injury, a change that has limited veteran access to benefits. Veteran advocacy groups are now seeking to reverse the regulation. (LA Times)
An appeals court yesterday took up the case of 17 Chinese Muslims detained at Guantanamo who had been ordered released in the U.S. by a federal judge in October. “It appeared from the questioning of lawyers yesterday that the judges might be inclined to overturn Urbina’s decision,” according to the Washington Post. The Justice Department no longer considers the men enemy combatants, but has refused to free them until they find a home that is neither the U.S. nor China. (Washington Post)
Salim Hamdan, whose trial in U.S. courts culminated in the 2006 Supreme Court ruling that the Bush administration must apply to Congress to set up military commissions, will be sent to Yemen for the rest of his five-month prison sentence. Prosecutors had initially sought a 30-year prison sentence. (ABC)
