February 22, 2008
Renzi Indicted On Land Deal Charges
UPDATED.
Rep. Rick Renzi, R- Ariz., was indicted on federal charges of extortion, wire fraud and money laundering stemming from an investigation of land deals in his home state and an alleged payment in return for the lawmaker's influence, the U.S. attorney's office in Arizona said today.
The 26-page indictment [PDF] accused Renzi and two former business partners of conspiring to sell land that buyers could swap for federal property. The sale netted $4.5 million for one of the associates, the government said. The FBI conducted a raid in April on a business owned by Renzi's wife, leading to his decision to step down from the Intelligence, Natural Resources and Financial Services committees. Renzi previously announced he would not run for another term and would work to clear his name.
But stepping down next January isn't soon enough for the House Republican leadership. In a statement issued this afternoon, Minority Leader John Boehner urged Renzi to resign.
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February 11, 2008
Another Way To Look At The D.C. Handguns Case
In March, lawyers for the District of Columbia will go before the Supreme Court to argue that the Second Amendment does not trump a municipality's interest in regulating the flow of deadly weapons. It will be the high court's first crack at the contentious "right to bear arms" amendment in more than seven decades.
As is often the case when big cities grapple with an epidemic of gun violence, the winds of sympathy are blowing in the District's favor. Mayor Adrian Fenty's administration is taking a visible lead in this case, seeking to defend the strictest handgun law in the country: a ban on most private gun ownership and requirements on how guns are stored in private homes.
The justices will be asked to interpret a confusing clause in the Second Amendment, which would thereby clarify whether the right to bear arms is collective -- the prevailing interpretation in American jurisprudence -- or individual. But in an amicus brief, a guns rights group is asking the court to take a very narrow look at D.C. v. Heller. At issue: the District's failure to police itself.
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January 10, 2008
Doolittle To Retire Amid Growing GOP Pressure
UPDATED.
Rep. John Doolittle, R-Calif., announced today that he will not seek re-election for a 10th term in office, ending months of speculation that he would leave Capitol Hill under the cloud of a federal investigation. "I plan to complete my term and finish my congressional service at the conclusion of this Congress," Doolittle said at a news conference today in his district.
"My wife, Julie, and I have made this decision after much prayer and deliberation. It was not my initial intent to retire, and I fully expected and planned to run again right up until very recently. But it distilled upon us that we were ready for a change after spending almost our entire married lives with me in public service." Doolittle and his wife are under scrutiny as part of the influence-peddling probe of imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
In April, the FBI raided Doolittle's Virginia home in pursuit of information regarding work his wife performed for Abramoff. Since then, the lawmaker and several of his aides have been served grand jury subpoenas, and it was unlikely his legal situation would be resolved before the November elections. Doolittle is challenging subpoenas issued to him for office records and said he believed the federal probe of him would be on hiatus for one to two years while courts decide on the constitutionality of the subpoenas.
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December 17, 2007
Corzine Signs Death Penalty Ban
New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine (D) this morning signed a bill abolishing the death penalty in the Garden State, making it the first state to ban capital punishment in four decades.
As he signed the bill, which was approved by the state legislature late last week, Corzine declared that "New Jersey is truly evolving." "I believe society first must determine if its endorsement of violence begets violence," he added. "To that, I answer yes. Therefore we must evolve to stop endorsing violence."
In addition to Corzine's moral argument for ending the death penalty, the bill appears to be a largely practical move, as the state has not carried out any executions since 1963. Lawmakers said the eight New Jersey prisoners currently sitting on death row would serve life sentences without the possibility of parole.
The Colisseum in Rome will be lit this evening to commemorate the new law, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. AP has more on this story, and The Gate has more on changing attitudes toward capital punishment in the U.S.
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December 10, 2007
Garden State Close To Death Penalty Ban
New Jersey is poised to become the first state to abolish the death penalty in 40 years. The Democratic-majority Senate has just approved legislation repealing the death sentence, which the state Assembly is set to approve on Thursday. Gov. Jon Corzine (D) has indicated he will sign it into law within the month.
Today's vote may portend a wider, mostly blue-state trend (but increasingly red-state, too) of re-examining capital punishment. Progress in DNA technology [PDF] and recent revelations that some deeply held tenets of criminal forensics are seriously flawed are leading legislatures to embark on cost-benefit analyses of the death penalty. More state government leaders are coming around to the view that having capital punishment on the books as a law enforcement tool is not worth the risk of executing the wrongly convicted.
Closer to the Beltway, Maryland seems best positioned to follow New Jersey's example in the near future. Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) has called on lawmakers to enact a repeal, and the state has had a de facto moratorium in effect since a state Supreme Court decision one year ago.
Executions are in a sort of holding pattern across the country. The U.S. Supreme Court in September agreed to take up the constitutionality of lethal injections on Eighth Amendment grounds. That case, as with most cases that come before the court these days, is expected to be a nail-biter, with Justice Anthony Kennedy making the final call.
-JANE ROH
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Judges Get More Flexibility On Crack Sentencing
In a 7-2 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court said that federal sentencing guidelines for drug crimes were nonbinding, giving judges some breathing room on sentences for offenses involving crack cocaine. Writing for the majority [PDF], Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg drew on the U.S. Sentencing Commission's recommendations that the 100-to-1 cocaine-crack possession ratio established by Congress be revised.
In 1986, Congress set much harsher penalties for crack cocaine offenders out of fear that use of the drug was fast becoming an epidemic in urban areas. The disparity in penalties can be seen in U.S. prisons, where blacks are disproportionately represented while powder cocaine offenders, who are mostly white, get off relatively easily.
Some activists have called the lopsided U.S. drug policy blatantly racist, but that was not really a calculation in today's decision. "A district judge must include the Guidelines range in the array of factors warranting consideration, but the judge may determine that, in the particular case, a within-Guidelines sentence is 'greater than necessary' to serve the objectives of sentencing," Ginsburg wrote. "In making that determination, the judge may consider the disparity between the Guidelines' treatment of crack and powder offenses."
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November 20, 2007
SCOTUS To Review D.C. Gun Ban
The Supreme Court has agreed to interpret for the first time whether the Second Amendment grants individuals the right to possess handguns.
The amendment states only that "a well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." The court has never made the distinction between militias and individuals on gun ownership, nor has it delineated the authority of states and localities on the matter.
At issue is Washington, D.C.'s 31-year-old ban on handguns, one of the strictest gun-control laws in the nation. In March, a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled 2-1 that the District's law was unconstitutional. "I am personally deeply disappointed and frankly outraged by this decision," said Mayor Adrian Fenty (D) at the time. "It flies in the face of laws that have helped decrease gun violence in the District of Columbia."
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October 26, 2007
SCOTUS Could Get Ryan Case
Yesterday's setback for former Illinois Gov. George Ryan, who was convicted on fraud and corruption charges, has his lawyers scrambling for their last shot to keep Ryan out of jail: the Supreme Court.
A federal appellate court denied Ryan's attorneys' request to appeal, in which they claimed he deserved another trial because of extensive problems with the jury. Taking the case to the Supreme Court, they said, is an attempt to keep the 73-year-old Republican free on bail.
One expert told the Los Angeles Times, however, that the justices are unlikely to hear the case.
"The justices like cases that present general issues of law, and this one really doesn't," said Albert Alschuler, a professor at Northwestern University School of Law. "It's a political-hot-potato case."
Ryan was convicted last year of accepting huge bribes and manipulating contracts to steer money toward his friends and associates while serving as Illinois' secretary of state and governor in the early '90s. He was sentenced to six and a half years in prison, and he has four days after the appeals court issues its final order to start serving his term.
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October 23, 2007
Judge Declares Mistrial In Holy Land Case
Disagreements over jury verdicts resulted in a Dallas judge handing a mistrial to five defendants connected to a Muslim charity. High-ranking officials in The Holy Land Foundation -- once the largest Muslim charity in the U.S. and a frequent target of FBI surveillance -- were accused of aiding terrorists and acting as an arm of Hamas.
The jury initially returned yesterday with a mix of not-guilty and deadlocked verdicts on the more than 200 combined charges ranging from tax fraud to providing material support for terrorism. But during routine polling of the jurors to determine that their votes were final, two female jurors spoke up and said their votes were not accurately reflected.
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October 02, 2007
Blackwater CEO Confident -- And For Good Reason
In his testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Blackwater USA chief Erik Prince defended his employees as patriotic veterans tasked with protecting Americans in hostile zones.
"Blackwater personnel supporting our overseas missions are all military and law enforcement veterans, many of whom have recent military deployments," said Prince, who founded Blackwater and is himself a former Navy SEAL. "No individual ever protected by Blackwater has ever been killed or seriously injured. There is no better evidence of the skill and dedication of these men."
The Democrats on the panel cited various reports in their portrayal of Blackwater as a lawless army whose hired guns have killed innocent civilians without repercussions. Indeed, Blackwater, which has a contract with the State Department, is not beholden to either Iraqi law or U.S. military law. And that's because Congress either forgot or did not bother to make it so.
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September 25, 2007
SCOTUS To Take Up Lethal Injections
The Supreme Court has agreed to review the constitutionality of executions performed by lethal injection, in a challenge stemming from two death row cases in Kentucky. Lawyers for convicted murderers Ralph Baze and Thomas Clyde Bowling claim that lethal injection amounts to cruel and unusual punishment prohibited in the Bill of Rights.
Baze's execution was originally scheduled for tonight. Earlier this month, however, the Kentucky Supreme Court stepped in and halted it for reasons unrelated to the constitutionality of lethal injections. Baze was convicted of murdering a sheriff and his deputy in 1992, and Bowling was convicted of shooting and killing a couple after a car crash in 1990.
Both men sued the state of Kentucky in 2004. Neither one is challenging his sentence before the court.
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September 21, 2007
Jena Protests Update
We missed this in our post yesterday: Justin Barker, the white student who was beaten by the so-called Jena Six, was expelled in May from Jena High School after bringing a firearm to campus, according to Gannett News Service. He has not been charged with a crime.
Meanwhile, bail was denied for Mychal Bell, who is the lone member of the seven black students accused in the beating still behind bars. Juvenile court proceedings are secret, so it is not clear why bail was denied. Bell's convictions for aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery were thrown out by two judges who ruled he should have been tried as a juvenile. The parish DA has yet to refile charges against him in juvenile court, and has hinted he might appeal the two court decisions to Louisiana's high court.
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September 18, 2007
Craig Returns To The Capitol
Sen. Larry Craig is back on the job today for the first time since news of his bathroom sex sting broke, leading to a back-and-forth struggle over whether he will retire next year. For now, Craig is attempting to withdraw his guilty plea to disorderly conduct charges in a Minnesota court. He's already resigned from his committee posts, and says he will stick to his original plan to retire on Sept. 30.
Late-night talk show hosts and political pundits are having fun [fast-forward to 1:48] at the Idaho Republican's expense. But, today Craig reminded reporters that "I'm a serving United States senator from Idaho" who is back to do his job.
Following news of Craig's guilty plea, his GOP colleagues quickly distanced themselves from the accused philanderer. Today, most ducked questions about the prodigal senator, although one, John Thune, remarked that Craig was showing "moxie." Craig attended the GOP lunch today, putting to bed earlier reports indicating he might be shut out.
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September 12, 2007
Vitter's Dirty Laundry Airs... Again
Maybe it was his appearance during yesterday's high-profile hearings on Capitol Hill, but all of the sudden Sen. David Vitter's personal woes are back in the spotlight after his initial implication in the D.C. Madam scandal all but faded from the collective Beltway memory.
Hustler publisher Larry Flynt called a press conference yesterday to once again accuse the Louisiana Republican of paying for sex with a New Orleans prostitute in 1999. The former call girl at the center of those allegations, Wendy Ellis, appeared with Flynt at yesterday's briefing.
At the time of their alleged trysts, Ellis went by the name "Leah." She told reporters that Vitter ended their business arrangement when she proposed taking the relationship to a more personal level. "I said, 'My real name is Wendy,' and he said, 'Oh my God.' That was the last time I saw him through the escort service." Vitter's wife's name is also Wendy.
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September 06, 2007
BREAKING: Dodd Won't Take Money From Criminals
This just in: Democratic presidential candidate Christopher Dodd has made it his campaign's policy not to accept money "raised, solicited, or delivered by fugitives from justice."
That bold and principled stand was announced in a press release earlier this afternoon -- just one day after a judge in California issued an arrest warrant for Hong Kong businessman (and Clinton campaign donor) Norman Hsu when he failed to show up in court.
Coincidence? Of course not.
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August 30, 2007
Report Faults Va. Tech In Shootings
Four months after Cho Seung-Hui's deadly shooting spree at Virginia Tech, a new report from an eight-member panel appointed by Gov. Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine (D) concludes that university officials could have taken steps to prevent the killings.
The school's failure to issue an alert immediately after Cho shot his first two victims in a campus dormitory, the report suggests, could have impacted the second round of shootings in a classroom building. Two hours elapsed between the two rounds of shootings, but the campus-wide email alert wasn't issued until just before Cho killed 30 more people and himself in Norris Hall.
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August 28, 2007
Sen. Larry Craig: I Did Nothing Wrong, And I Am Not Gay
UPDATED.
In a brief but fiery press conference, Sen. Larry Craig sought to put to rest rumors that he is gay.
"Let me be clear: I am not gay. I have never been gay," the Idaho Republican said with his wife at his side.
Craig called reporters to the outdoor plaza in Boise to explain why he pleaded guilty earlier this month to a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge after a plainclothes officer accused him of soliciting sex in a men's restroom at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Roll Call broke the news of Craig's June arrest and plea yesterday.
"I did nothing wrong at the Minneapolis airport," Craig said. "I did nothing wrong, and I regret the decision to plead guilty."
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August 27, 2007
GOP Senator Craig Arrested For 'Lewd Conduct' In Bathroom
UPDATED.
Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig, one of the Senate's most conservative members and an opponent of gay rights, was arrested in June for an incident involving lewd conduct in a public men's room, Roll Call reports.
According to the report, Craig was arrested June 11 following a complaint of lewd conduct in a restroom at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. TPM has obtained the incident report, and so far the details appear to be tame.
"At 1216 hours, Craig tapped his right foot. I recognized this as a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct. Craig tapped his toes several times and moves his foot closer to my foot," the officer states. After Craig "proceeded to swipe his hand under the stall divider several times," the officer flashed his identification card and informed the senator he was under arrest.
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Afghan Opium Production Booming
Opium production in Afghanistan has reached "frightening" new levels, the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime announced today. The opium business there is up 17% from last year, and now comprises 93% of the drug's worldwide output.
"No other country in the world has ever had such a large amount of farmland used for illegal activity, besides China 100 years ago," UNODC executive director Antonio Maria Costa told AP.
The report did note one positive development: The drug trade in Afghanistan's northern provinces has significantly declined. The opium boom has taken place almost entirely in the troubled Helmand province in the south, where the presence of Taliban and other insurgent fighters is strongest.
Costa blamed not only insurgents in Helmand for the crisis but also the Hamid Karzai government's "benign tolerance of corruption."
See the full UNODC report here [PDF]. Reuters has a fact sheet on the Afghan poppy trade, and the New York Times reports on firefights in Helmand province over the weekend.
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August 24, 2007
Criminal Charges Not Likely Against Foley
Scripps Howard News Service is reporting that former Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., is "unlikely" to face criminal charges in Florida for soliciting sex with teenage congressional pages. "Sources close to the yearlong investigation" by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement into the sexually charged e-mails sent by Foley to teenage boys say there does not appear to be sufficient evidence that his behavior was criminal.
Earlier this week Foley and House officials denied the FDLE access to the former congressman's e-mail account. AP reported yesterday that the House general counsel claimed that suggestive photos sought in the FDLE's investigation were nowhere to be found in Foley's e-mails.
The FBI has conducted only a "preliminary" investigation into Foley at this point, and there is no word on whether a full-scale inquiry might be in the offing.
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August 23, 2007
Foley Refuses To Turn Computers Over To Investigators
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement announced today that its criminal investigation into alleged misconduct by Mark Foley is being hampered by the former Republican lawmaker's refusal to let investigators examine his congressional computers.
Foley ignited scandal and resigned from Congress last September after it was brought to light that he was having inappropriate conversations with young, male congressional pages on the Internet. Foley could face criminal charges if investigators find that he attempted to seduce any boy under the age of 18.
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August 20, 2007
Calif. Rep. Filner Charged With Assault
Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., will have to appear in court Oct. 2 for allegedly shoving an airline employee on Sunday, AP reports.
During the incident at Dulles, Filner allegedly "attempted to enter an employees-only area, pushed aside an employee's arm and wouldn't leave when asked." The eight-term congressman was charged with assault and battery.
Filner is chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs. He has not yet released a statement on the altercation. The Almanac of American Politics has more on him here (subscription).
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August 07, 2007
New Hiring Rules To Boost FBI Cheetos Consumption?
The FBI no longer deems pot a dealbreaker. Newly relaxed hiring practices mean that marijuana use no longer disqualifies you from employment with the bureau -- provided you haven't touched the stuff in three years.
Of course, the new rules don't mean that the guys from "Clerks" will be tasked with fighting the domestic war on terror. Jeffrey Berkin, an FBI deputy assistant director, cautioned the Washington Post, "Our standards are still very high. The level of drug history would still have to be something that we would characterize as experimental."
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July 31, 2007
House Sends Ethics Bill To Senate
The House voted nearly unanimously in favor of an ethics reform bill this morning, sending the measure to the Senate, where it faces opposition from some Republicans.
By a vote of 411 to 8, lawmakers approved new disclosure rules for earmarks and donations from lobbyists. Democrats are hoping to secure the bill's passage through both houses of Congress before they depart for the August recess at the end of the week. Lobbying reform was a key element of the Democratic leadership's promise to root out the "culture of corruption" -- personified by disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff -- in the 2006 midterm elections.
AP has a breakdown of the bill's key provisions, The Hill delves into the complicated drafting process that led to the version lawmakers approved today, and CongressDailyAM (subscription) reported this morning on the hurdles the package faces in the Senate.
The bill's movement through Congress comes at an awkward time for at least one senator. Alaska Republican Ted Stevens will be casting his vote amid a federal investigation into his dealings with a housing contractor ensnared in a state bribing scandal.
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July 19, 2007
Tenn. Man Nabbed In Nuke-Peddling Sting
A contract worker for a Tennessee nuclear clean-up site has been charged with stealing classified information on enriching uranium, AP reports. Authorities said Roy Lynn Oakley, 67, planned to sell the material to foreign governments.
Oakley was apprehended when he instead sold the information to undercover FBI agents. The cleanup site, East Tennessee Technology Park, is not part of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, as some news outlets are reporting, though it is on the Oak Ridge reservation.
NBC reports that money was the low-level worker's main motive.
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July 16, 2007
Vitter Won't Explain D.C. Madam Link
Louisiana Republican David Vitter went before the cameras one week after admitting he committed a "very serious sin" related to a Washington escort service. But he did not come with hat in hand.
"I'm not going to answer numerous questions about it again and again and again," Vitter said with a note of indignation.
Vitter did not explain why his phone number turned up in the records of Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the so-called D.C. Madam, only referring to his "past failings." Vitter also denied long-circulating rumors that he solicited prostitutes in the late 1990s as a state representative based in New Orleans.
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July 13, 2007
On Your Marks... Get Set...
The Washington press corps had better spend some time at the gym this weekend. They're sure to be jostling with cameramen and journos from outside the Beltway for the first glimpses of Sen. David Vitter, R-La., since his admission that he was a client of the so-called D.C. Madam, Deborah Jeane Palfrey.
Vitter missed several votes on the Hill this week to be with his family -- and stay out of sight. Fellow GOP Sen. Jim DeMint told AP that he expects Vitter to return to his job on Tuesday, when the Senate will be holding votes.
The Baton Rouge Advocate reports Vitter could face an ethics reprimand, and the Times-Picayune has an interview with a prostitute who says Vitter was a regular client.
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July 09, 2007
Stevens Fears Bridge To Unemployment
Alaska Republican Ted Stevens, a one-time Senate appropriations gatekeeper, says he is worried about a Justice Department probe that may target him.
"The worst thing about this investigation is that it does change your life in terms of employment potential," Stevens told AP. "It doesn't matter what anyone says, it does shake you up. If this is still hanging around a year from November, it could cause me some trouble."
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July 03, 2007
White House Denies Special Treatment For Libby
UPDATED.
President Bush today defended his decision to commute the sentence of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby on a perjury and obstruction of justice conviction.
"I considered his background, his service to this country as well as the jury verdict," Bush said at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. "I felt like the 30-month sentencing was severe. I made a considered judgment that I believe is the right decision to make in this case, and I stand by it."
It was Bush's first public appearance since announcing, via press release, that he had ordered Libby's sentence commuted. Bush said he believed the jury's verdict should stand, but did not count out a full pardon in the future.
"I rule nothing in and nothing out," Bush said.
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Bush Intervenes In Libby Conviction After All
UPDATED.
Under intense pressure from his base to stand up for a trusted aide, President Bush was damned if he did and damned if he did not pardon I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney. Early Monday evening, the self-appointed Decider quietly announced he would seek the middle road.
Safely ensconced in the White House, Bush announced via written statement that he was commuting Libby's 30-month sentence, just hours after a federal court denied Libby's request to postpone reporting to prison during the appeals process. Many White House reporters had not yet left Kennebunkport, Maine, where Bush had been hosting Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier in the day.
"My decision to commute his prison sentence leaves in place a harsh punishment for Mr. Libby,'' the president's statement read. "The consequences of his felony conviction on his former life as a lawyer, public servant, and private citizen will be long-lasting."
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