Latest U.S. Department of Justice News

Justice Department finds Georgia is 'deliberately indifferent' to unchecked abuses at its prisons

Oct. 01, 2024 14:02 PM EDT

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia prison officials are “deliberately indifferent” to unchecked deadly violence, widespread drug use, extortion and sexual abuse at state lockups, the U.S. Justice Department said Tuesday, threatening to sue the state if it doesn’t quickly take steps to curb rampant...

WikiLeaks' Julian Assange says he pleaded 'guilty to journalism' in order to be freed

Oct. 01, 2024 08:12 AM EDT

STRASBOURG, France (AP) — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said Tuesday that he was freed after years of incarceration because he "pled guilty to journalism.” In his first public remarks since he was released from prison in June, Assange gave evidence of the impact of his...

Wisconsin prisons agree to help hearing-impaired inmates under settlement

Sep. 30, 2024 18:40 PM EDT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Department of Corrections has agreed to provide more help to hearing-impaired inmates as part of a settlement with federal investigators. The U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday that its investigators had been probing complaints from...

Justice Department will launch civil rights review into 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

Sep. 30, 2024 18:29 PM EDT

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Justice Department announced Monday it plans to launch a review of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, an attack by a white mob on a thriving Black district that is considered one of the worst single acts of violence against Black people in U.S. history. The...

Residents of a small Mississippi town respond to a scathing Justice Department report on policing

Sep. 27, 2024 19:29 PM EDT

LEXINGTON, Miss. (AP) — Some residents of a small Mississippi town where the Justice Department found severe problems with excessive and racially disproportionate policing said they were unaware of the ongoing issues, while others said harassment from officers was a part everyday of life. ...

New Orleans, US Justice Department move to end police department's consent decree

Sep. 27, 2024 19:08 PM EDT

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — New Orleans and the U.S. Department of Justice filed a motion Friday in federal court to take steps to end long-standing federal oversight of the city's police department. The city and the federal government had agreed to a reform pact for the New Orleans Police...

Justice Department sues Alabama saying state is purging voter rolls too close to election

Sep. 27, 2024 19:00 PM EDT

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit Friday against Alabama and its top election official, accusing the state of illegally purging people from voter rolls too close to the November election. Federal officials said the purge violates the “quiet...

Justice Department charges Iranian operatives in hack of Donald Trump's presidential campaign

Sep. 27, 2024 12:21 PM EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) — Justice Department charges Iranian operatives in hack of Donald Trump's presidential campaign.

Judge orders US government to leave Wisconsin reservation roads open

Sep. 26, 2024 18:19 PM EDT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday ordered the U.S. government to temporarily leave roads open on a northern Wisconsin reservation, giving non-tribal homeowners hope that they can maintain access to their properties for a while longer. U.S. District Judge William...

Justice probe finds pervasive abuse and discrimination by police in small Mississippi city

Sep. 26, 2024 18:18 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Police in a majority-Black Mississippi city discriminate against Black people, use excessive force and retaliate against critics, the Justice Department said Thursday in a scathing report detailing a slew of civil rights abuses by law enforcement in one of America's poorest...