Federal prosecutors sidestepped some Justice Department rules when they seized the phone records of reporters as part of media leak investigations during the Trump administration, according to a new watchdog report being released as the aggressive practice of hunting for journalists’ sources could again be resurrected.

The investigations into Michael Brown's death in Ferguson, Missouri 10 years ago catapulted the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division into the spotlight.

On Aug. 9, 2014, Michael Brown and a friend were walking in the middle of Canfield Drive, a two-lane street in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Missouri, when a police officer drove by and told them to use the sidewalk.

Kamala Harris’ whirlwind process to select Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate can be summed up in a word: weird.

Vice President Kamala Harris is set to launch a battleground tour next week with her yet-to-be-named running mate, with stops in seven swing states stretching from Pennsylvania to Nevada.

Vice President Kamala Harris must choose a running mate in only a few weeks as Democrats prepare for their convention next month.

The American legal system has never faced greater challenges or demands for reform from people of all races and across the political spectrum.

A three-judge panel has blocked Alabama’s new congressional map after lawmakers failed to create a second district where Black voters at least came close to comprising a majority, as suggested by the court.

In massive victories for Republicans, North Carolina’s newly GOP-controlled state Supreme Court has thrown out a previous ruling against gerrymandered voting maps and upheld a photo voter identification law that colleagues had struck down as racially biased.

A Los Angeles judge has sentenced the man convicted of gunning down rapper Nipsey Hussle to 60 years to life in prison.

The Supreme Court is about to confront a new elections case that could dramatically alter voting in 2024 and beyond.

The prosecutor named as special counsel to oversee investigations related to former President Donald Trump has a long career confronting public corruption and war crimes.

Donald Trump has officially declared himself a candidate for president, but that won’t shield him from the same criminal investigations that confront him as an ordinary citizen.

The U.S. Senate has confirmed Steve Dettelbach to run the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Michigan’s largest district court and bail reform advocates have settled a class-action lawsuit against bail practices in Detroit, where hundreds of defendants are jailed for no other reason than their inability to afford court-imposed bail.

Nipsey Hussle's shooting death remains fresh for those who revered the beloved rapper.

A prosecutor says Nipsey Hussle was a hip-hop star who sought to raise up his neighborhood with him until a friend from the same streets gunned him down.

A judge has issued a bench warrant for an eyewitness to the shooting death of rapper Nipsey Hussle for failing to appear at the trial of the man charged with first-degree murder in the slaying.

An attorney for the man on trial for killing rapper Nipsey Hussle pressed the woman who says she served as the unwitting getaway driver over errors in the testimony she gave for the prosecution.

A woman testified that she didn't realize she was acting as a getaway driver when she took her friend from the scene of the killing of rapper Nipsey Hussle in 2019.

A Los Angeles prosecutor says the killing of Nipsey Hussle was premeditated by a man charged with fatally shooting the Grammy Award-winning rapper outside his clothing store three years ago.

Accusations have flown for months over who's to blame for Ohio’s redistricting protracted redistricting predicament.

More than 140 former Justice Department officials are throwing their support behind President Joe Biden’s nominee to run the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon’s appearance in federal court on contempt charges provides a rare glimpse into one of the least-used powers of Congress at work — and how historically difficult it has been.

In the fight to keep control of the U.S. House of Representatives, Democrats need help from the few places where state lawmakers can make 2022 difficult for Republicans.

Voting rights advocates have filed a new lawsuit in federal court over Texas' newly redrawn congressional district maps.

The House has voted to hold Steve Bannon, a longtime ally and aide to former President Donald Trump, in contempt of Congress after he defied a subpoena from the committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.

Steve Bannon is facing a contempt charge from Congress after he refused to cooperate with a House committee investigating the violent Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.

Attorney General Merrick Garland has formally prohibited federal prosecutors from seizing the records of journalists in leak investigations.

The FBI issued a subpoena demanding U.S. newspaper giant Gannett provide agents with information to track down readers of a USA Today story about a suspect in a child pornography case who fatally shot two FBI agents in February.

President Joe Biden’s stated commitment to abandoning the practice of spying on reporters has won support from press freedom groups.

The Trump Justice Department secretly obtained the phone records of four New York Times reporters as part of a leak investigation.

A suburban Boston police officer who became a national hero in 2013 when he tackled one of the Boston Marathon bombers has retired from the only job he ever wanted.

President Joe Biden says he won’t allow the Department of Justice to seize journalists’ phone records and emails, calling the practice “wrong” in a significant departure from his predecessors.

President Joe Biden is taking executive action to ensure minorities, low-income Americans and others have better access to quality legal representation after services dwindled during the Trump administration.

He told reporters the Georgia law is an “atrocity" and the Justice Department is looking into it. Allies meanwhile plan to fight the Georgia law, and others, in court. He called as well for the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would restore some aspects of a landmark law struck down by the Supreme Court in 2013. Donald Trump, the former president who promoted false claims of election fraud, congratulated the Georgia governor and state leaders on the new law. 1 is vast, and its Senate counterpart would confront the new Georgia law by expanding voting by mail and early voting, both popular during the pandemic.

Maintaining accurate voter rolls is a bipartisan concern, but there is little agreement on the best way to do it. Republicans say Democrats are too lax, resulting in bloated voter rolls that undermine confidence and invite fraud. Here is an explanation of how voter rolls are maintained, how states do it differently and the conflicts over this year’s legislative proposals. WHAT ARE VOTER ROLLS AND HOW ARE THEY MAINTAINED? In 2016, New York City’s Board of Elections improperly removed more than 200,000 names from the voter rolls.

Democrats and Republicans both see the legislation, which touches on nearly every aspect of the electoral process, as fundamental to their parties’ political futures. Republicans charge the bill would strip power from the states and cement an unfair political advantage for Democrats. It would expand voting by mail, promote early voting and give states money to track absentee ballots. Some measures would limit mail voting, cut hours at polling places and impose restrictions that Democrats argue amount to the greatest assault on voting rights since the Jim Crow era. The bill has already run into roadblocks that have become familiar since Democrats began their narrow control of the Senate two months ago.

Democrats and Republicans both see the legislation, which touches on nearly every aspect of the electoral process, as fundamental to their parties’ political futures. Republicans charge the bill would strip power from the states and cement an unfair political advantage for Democrats. It would expand voting by mail, promote early voting and give states money to track absentee ballots. Some measures would limit mail voting, cut hours at polling places and impose restrictions that Democrats argue amount to the greatest assault on voting rights since the Jim Crow era. The bill has already run into roadblocks that have become familiar since Democrats began their narrow control of the Senate two months ago.

Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division nominee Kristen Clarke speaks during an event with President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris at The Queen theater in Wilmington, Del., Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)WASHINGTON – Some of the largest law enforcement groups in the U.S. are throwing their support behind President Joe Biden’s nominee to run the Justice Department’s civil rights division. Other supporters also include the National Association of Police Organizations, National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, the Hispanic American Police Command Officers Association, the National Association of Women Law Enforcement Executives and dozens of crime victims. As attorney general in the Obama administration, Eric Holder frequently criticized violent police confrontations and opened a series of civil rights investigations into local law enforcement practices. The civil rights investigations often ended with court-approved consent decrees that mandated reforms.

The U.S. Census Bureau said it wont be delivering data used for redrawing state and local legislative districts until the end of September 2021. Styles had previously said the redistricting data would be available no earlier than the end of July because of delays caused by the virus. Before the pandemic, the deadline for finishing the redistricting data had been March 31. Unlike in past decades when the data were released to states on a flow basis, the 2020 redistricting data will be made available to the states all at once, according to the Census Bureau. The state House and Senate will hold a joint committee hearing Wednesday on the impact of the delay in the Census Bureau data.

President-elect Joe Biden is set to name Garland as Attorney General. His confirmation prospects as attorney general were all but ensured when Democrats scored control of the Senate majority by winning both Georgia Senate seats. Biden also introduced three others for senior Justice Department leadership posts on Thursday, including Obama administration homeland security adviser Lisa Monaco as deputy attorney general and former Justice Department civil rights chief Vanita Gupta as associate attorney general, the No. He also named an assistant attorney general for civil rights, Kristen Clarke, now the president of Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, an advocacy group. Garland was selected over other finalists including former Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala., and former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates.

Pratt, who has warned that systemic political corruption is a threat to U.S. democracy, is ridiculing President Trump's pardons, including those issued to convicted Republican campaign operatives and members of Congress. "It's not surprising that a criminal like Trump pardons other criminals," Judge Pratt of the Southern District of Iowa said Monday, Dec. 28, 2020. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall File)IOWA CITY, Iowa – A federal judge in Iowa who has warned against political corruption is ridiculing President Donald Trump’s pardons, including those issued to convicted Republican campaign operatives and former members of Congress. “It’s not surprising that a criminal like Trump pardons other criminals,” senior U.S. District Judge Robert Pratt of the Southern District of Iowa told The Associated Press in a brief phone interview Monday. Trump also pardons turkeys — this year two from Iowa — annually before Thanksgiving.

FILE - In this Nov. 5, 2020 file photo, President Donald Trump speaks at the White House in Washington. The president's legal entanglements are likely to intensify when leaves the White House in January 2021 and loses immunity from prosecution. The probe led by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. is one of several legal entanglements likely to intensify when Trump loses power — and immunity from prosecution — upon leaving the White House. Trump faces two New York state inquiries into whether he misled tax authorities, banks or business partners. Carroll says Trump raped her in the mid-1990s in a New York department store.

“There is no exaggeration here, the Texas state House is the key to future power in America. Holder's group has given money to 261 state legislative candidates who could influence redistricting in 11 states. Democrats are being countered financially by the Republican State Leadership Committee, which also coordinated the GOP's successful effort a decade ago. But Democrats need to flip just nine seats to take control of the state House for the first time since 2002. “If we flip the Texas House, redistricting is coming up!

RALEIGH, N.C. – North Carolina election officials agreed Tuesday that mail-in absentee ballots returned this fall with deficient information can be fixed without forcing the voter to fill out a new blank ballot. Marc Elias, a Democratic lawyer who helped sue in North Carolina court to seek the changes and has worked on similar absentee ballot litigation elsewhere, praised the decision. The absentee ballot adjustments are part of a proposed joint settlement filed in Wake County court between the State Board of Elections and the alliance, a union-affiliated group. North Carolina is one of eight states with witness and or notary public requirements for absentee ballots, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. North Carolina state law usually demands two witnesses, but lawmakers reduced the requirement to one this year because people isolated due to at-risk health conditions may find it difficult to locate two.

Democrats nine seats away from the majority in the Texas House. A coalition of groups working to flip the Texas House is unveiling a $1.1 million digital ad campaign backing 11 candidates. The members of the coalition include the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, the group led by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, and the Texas House Democratic Campaign Committee. Each of the 11 candidates has been endorsed by at least one of the coalition groups. Here are the 11 candidates benefiting from the digital ad blitz:

WASHINGTON – Democrat Joe Biden is assembling a team of top lawyers in anticipation of court challenges to the election process that could ultimately determine who wins the race for the White House. Biden's presidential campaign says the legal war room will work to ensure that elections are properly administered and votes correctly counted. The campaign is also creating a special national litigation team involving hundreds of lawyers that will include as leaders former solicitors general Walter Dellinger and Donald Verrilli. Democratic lawyer Marc Elias and a team of lawyers from his firm, Perkins Coie, will focus on protecting voter access and ensuring a fair and accurate vote count. Former Attorney General Eric Holder will also play an outreach role on the question of voting rights, according to the campaign.

MADISON, Wis. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former Attorney General Eric Holder delivered a stark reminder to Wisconsin Democrats on Thursday about the importance the battleground state plays in the presidential election less than 11 weeks away. No pressure, its all riding on Wisconsin, Pelosi told more than 100 Democrats during a virtual meeting tied to the final day of the Democratic National Convention. No pressure.Democrats, as well as President Donald Trump, have made no secret how essential winning Wisconsin is to the race this year. Wisconsin did not get the national attention it hoped for when the Democratic convention originally planned for Milwaukee moved online. The road to the presidency runs through Wisconsin, said Holder, who was attorney general under former President Barack Obama.

WASHINGTON A former FBI lawyer will plead guilty to making a false statement in the first criminal case arising from U.S. Attorney John Durham's investigation into the probe of ties between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign. The investigation has proceeded alongside a parallel effort by Senate Republicans to discredit the Russia probe and as Attorney General William Barr has escalated his own criticism of the FBI's probe. Clinesmith was referred for potential prosecution by the department's inspector general's office, which conducted its own review of the Russia investigation. Former Attorney General Eric Holder selected him during the Obama administration to investigate the CIA's harsh interrogation techniques of terror suspects and the destruction of videotapes documenting that interrogation. Barr signaled his skepticism with the Russia investigation right away, concluding that Trump had not obstructed justice even though Mueller had pointedly left that question unresolved.

(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)WASHINGTON Mourning the death of civil rights hero John Lewis, Democrats are urging the Senate to take up a bill of enduring importance to Lewis throughout his life: protecting and expanding the right to vote. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called Lewis a great man who helped bend the nations history toward justice, but Republicans appear unlikely to bring up the voting rights bill for a Senate vote. Lewis, a Democrat who served 17 terms in the House, was for decades a force behind civil rights and voting rights laws. But it has become a contentious issue, particularly in the wake of the Supreme Court decision declaring a key section of the Voting Rights Act unconstitutional. Lewis, who was bloodied and bludgeoned in a civil rights march months before the original voting rights law was passed, presided in the House chamber as lawmakers voted to extend it.

The 126-year-old banner was the last state flag in the U.S. with the Confederate battle emblem. The Mississippi Constitution currently requires a statewide candidate to win a majority of the popular vote and a majority of electoral vote. One electoral vote is awarded to the candidate receiving the most support in each of the 122 state House districts. If no candidate wins both the popular vote and the electoral vote, the race is decided by the state House. U.S. District Judge Daniel P. Jordan III wrote last November that he has grave concern about the constitutionality the electoral vote provision.

The GOP-led panel endorsed Mississippi Appeals Court Judge Cory Wilson Thursday on a 12-10, party line vote. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)WASHINGTON The Senate has approved the nomination of a Mississippi judge to a federal appeals court, the 200th federal judge named by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the Republican-controlled chamber. Democrats also said he has made false claims about the prevalence of voter fraud in the United States and expressed opposition to enforcement of the federal Voting Rights Act. "Judge Wilsons troubling record on voting rights is highly relevant to his nomination,'' said California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Democrats said McConnell and Trump were focused on far-right judicial nominees at the expense of legislation to address the COVID-19 pandemic, gun violence, voting rights and other issues.

Law enforcement officials applaud after President Donald Trump signed an executive order on police reform, in the Rose Garden of the White House, Tuesday, June 16, 2020, in Washington. But he made no mention of the roiling national debate over racism spawned by police killings of black men and women. Reducing crime and raising standards are not opposite goals," he said before signing the order Tuesday, flanked by police officials. Trumps executive order would establish a database that tracks police officers with excessive use-of-force complaints in their records. The White House has said that is a step too far.

The American Bar Association is rating the Mississippi judge as well qualified to serve on one of the most conservative federal appeals courts. Circuit Court of Appeals, which handles cases for Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)WASHINGTON The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday advanced a federal appeals court nominee from Mississippi, despite Democratic objections over derisive comments he made about former President Barack Obama and his signature health care legislation. The GOP-led panel endorsed Mississippi Appeals Court Judge Cory Wilson on a 12-10, party-line vote. Wilson, a former Republican state legislator who has been on the state appeals court for 16 months, was nominated by President Donald Trump for a seat on the New Orleans-based 5th U.S.

The law would allow an officer to be charged for acting with reckless disregard for someones life, causing that person's death. The bill would amend federal misconduct statutes to make it easier for courts to find officers personally liable for the violation of civil rights. The proposal would give specific subpoena power to federal civil rights prosecutors to conduct those investigations and would aid state attorneys general with conducting similar investigations. As attorney general in the Obama administration, Eric Holder frequently criticized violent police confrontations and opened a series of civil rights investigations into local law enforcement practices. The civil rights investigations often ended with court-approved consent decrees that mandated reforms.

(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)Calls for deep police reforms gained momentum as leaders in the city where George Floyd died at the hands of an officer pushed to dismantle the entire department. Cities imposed curfews as several protests last week were marred by spasms of arson, assaults and smash-and-grab raids on businesses. More than 10,000 people have been arrested around the country since protests began, according to reports tracked by The Associated Press. But U.S. protests in recent days have been overwhelmingly peaceful and over the weekend, several police departments appeared to retreat from aggressive tactics. Things werent as peaceful in Seattle, where the mayor and police chief had said they were trying to deescalate tensions.

(Anthony Souffle/Star Tribune via AP, File)MINNEAPOLIS A majority of the members of the Minneapolis City Council said Sunday they support disbanding the city's police department, an aggressive stance that comes just as the state has launched a civil rights investigation after George Floyd's death. Council member Jeremiah Ellison promised that the council would dismantle the department. It is clear that our system of policing is not keeping our communities safe, Lisa Bender, the council president, said. Community activists have criticized the Minneapolis department for years for what they say is a racist and brutal culture that resists change. The move to defund or abolish the Minneapolis department is far from assured, with the civil rights investigation likely to unfold over the next several months.