DOJ

U.S. Lawmakers Ask DOJ If Terrorism Law Covers Pipeline Activists

October 25, 2017 Timothy Gardner, www.reuters.com Resist! Activists, DOJ, Pipelines, Repression

By Timothy Gardner for Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. representatives from both parties asked the Department of Justice on Monday whether the domestic terrorism law would cover actions by protesters that shut oil pipelines last year, a move that could potentially increase political rhetoric against climate change activists. Ken Buck, a Republican representative from Colorado, said in a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, that damaging pipeline infrastructure poses risks to humans and the environment. The letter, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, said “operation of pipeline facilities by unqualified personnel could result in a rupture - the consequences of which would be devastating.” It was signed by 84 representatives, including at least two Democrats, Gene Green and Henry Cuellar, both of Texas. The move by the lawmakers is a sign of increasing tensions between activists protesting projects including Energy Transfer Partners LP’s Dakota Access Pipeline and the administration of President Donald Trump, which is seeking to make the country “energy dominant” by boosting domestic oil, gas, and coal output. Last year activists in several states used bolt cutters to break fences and twisted shut valves on several cross border pipelines that sent about 2.8 million barrels per day of crude to the United States from Canada, equal to roughly 15 percent of daily U.S. consumption.

DOJ Seeking Info On 6,000 People Who ‘Liked’ Anti-Trump Facebook Page

September 30, 2017 Alberto Luperon, www.lawnewz.com Educate! DOJ, Donald Trump, Facebook, Repression, Social Media

By Alberto Luperon for Law Newz - The ACLU-DC is trying to stop three search warrants that’d let the Department of Justice snoop around protesters’ Facebook accounts over Inauguration Day protests. They filed in D.C. Superior Court on Thursday, saying the government’s demands violate the Fourth Amendment because they are so broad, and threatening First Amendment speech. These warrants ask for too much information not directly relevant to the federal probe, argues the ACLU. This includes information on the plaintiffs’ friends, associates, and the approximately 6000 individuals who just “liked” an anti-Donald Trump Facebook page. Requested data would go back to Nov. 1, 2016, a week before the presidential election. “The warrants make no provision for avoiding or minimizing invasions into personal and associational/expression information, for preventing such information from being shared widely within the government, or for destroying irrelevant material when the investigation is concluded,” said the ACLU filing. In other words, this might chill First Amendment speech by giving the government means to observe anyone who were simply linked to anti-Trump protesters. This fight stems from arrests made Jan. 20. Demonstrators came to Washington D.C. to protest President Donald Trump‘s inauguration, and over 200 ended up getting charged with felony rioting.

Leaked DOJ Memo Recommends Considering Victims’ Sexual History In Rape Cases

September 11, 2017 Emily Wells, www.truthdig.com Educate! DOJ, Rape, Sexual Harassment

By Emily Wells for Truth Dig - The policy would directly contradict the 1994 Violence Against Women Act’s rape shield laws, which are designed to prevent defendants from introducing victims’ sexual history or reputation as evidence in proceedings. The legal information website Nolo says that challenges to rape shield laws historically have been unsuccessful: The Constitution guarantees a defendant the right to confront the victim, or accuser, at trial. Defendants have argued that rape shield laws abuse this right by hiding victims’ previous sexual behavior. But, indicative of the nationwide approach, an Illinois court held that a defendant’s right to confrontation doesn’t include a right to present irrelevant evidence such as the victim’s reputation and sexual acts with other people. (People v. Cornes, 80 Ill.App.3d 166 (1980).) After DeVos’ announcement to roll back victim protections, 20 state attorneys general signed a letter urging her to keep the protections in place.

EFF Urges Stronger Oversight Of DOJ’s Digital Search Of J20 Protestor Website

August 28, 2017 Stephanie Lacambra, www.eff.org Resist! DOJ, Free Speech, Inauguration, Investigation

By Stephanie Lacambra for EFF - District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Robert Morin ruled today that DreamHost must comply with federal prosecutors’ narrowed warrant seeking communications and records about an Inauguration Day protest website: disruptj20.org; but they will have to present the court with a “minimization plan” that includes the names of all government investigators who will have access to the data and a list of all the methods that they will be using to search the evidence. This is an important step in ensuring judicial oversight of the government’s digital search. While we are glad to see that the judge is taking steps to oversee the government's “narrowed” search, EFF has long warned against the problems with the two-step approach of overseizure of digital information followed by a search of the information for evidence responsive to the warrant. Because of the vast troves of data that the government has access to in these cases, it risks executing a general search, the very danger that the Fourth Amendment is meant to guard against. As the en banc 9th Circuit warned in 2010:“The process of segregating electronic data that is seizable from that which is not must not become a vehicle for the government to gain access to data which it has no probable cause to collect.”

DOJ Drops Request For IP Addresses From Trump Resistance Site

August 23, 2017 Morgan Chalfant, www.thehill.com Resist! DOJ, Donald Trump, Inauguration, Investigation

By Morgan Chalfant for The Hill - The government said in a brief released Tuesday that it has "no interest" in the 1.3 million IP addresses related to the website disruptj20.org. It says it is solely focused on information that could constitute evidence related to criminal rioting on Inauguration Day. “The Warrant — like the criminal investigation — is singularly focused on criminal activity,” the reply brief states. “It will not be used for any other purpose.” Privacy and civil liberties advocates were up in arms last week when the web hosting company DreamHost publicized a July 12 search warrant for information related to disruptj20.org, which was used to organize protests on Inauguration Day. DreamHost said complying with the request would amount to handing over roughly 1.3 million visitor IP addresses and other information about visitors to the site. Lawyers for DreamHost opposed the warrant, arguing it raised First and Fourth Amendment concerns. “In essence, the Search Warrant not only aims to identify the political dissidents of the current administration, but attempts to identify and understand what content each of these dissidents viewed on the website,” the company’s lawyers said in a legal argument opposing the request.

DreamHost Fights Search Warrant For Info On #DisruptJ20 Website

August 20, 2017 Anne Meador, www.dcmediagroup.us Resist! DOJ, Inauguration Day, Privacy, Trump

By Anne Meador for Dc Media Group. Washington, DC - A DC Superior Court judge will hear arguments next week related to a sweeping government search warrant served on a company which hosted an Inauguration Day protest website. DreamHost, LLC turned over records last January to the U.S. Attorney’s office when it requested information about the owners of disruptj20.org, a website of information about planned protests against Trump’s inauguration. But the Los Angeles company balked when the DOJ served a search warrant in July seeking all stored electronic communications related to the website. In its written response to the U.S. Attorney’s motion to compel, DreamHost says the warrant requires “unreasonable,” “all-encompassing disclosures” in violation of the Fourth Amendment.

In J20 Investigation, DOJ Overreaches Again. And Gets Taken To Court Again.

August 16, 2017 Mark Rumold, www.eff.org Resist! Courts, DOJ, Inauguration, Trump Administration

By Mark Rumold for EFF - We’ve already written about problems with the government’s investigation into the J20 protests—a series of demonstrations on January 20, the day of President Trump’s inauguration—which resulted in the arrest of hundreds of protesters. But prosecutors in DC are still at it. And they’re still using unconstitutional methods to pursue their investigation. This time they served a search warrant on hosting provider DreamHost that would require the company to turn over essentially all information on a website it hosts, www.disruptj20.org—a site that was dedicated to organizing and planning the protest. Did you click on that link? Well, that’s apparently information the government wants to know. In just one example of the staggering overbreadth of the search warrant, it would require DreamHost to turn over the IP logs of all visitors to the site. Millions of visitors—activists, reporters, or you (if you clicked on the link)—would have records of their visits turned over to the government. The warrant also sought production of all emails associated with the account and unpublished content, like draft blog posts and photos.

DOJ Seeks 1.3M IP Addresses Associated With J20 Protests

August 15, 2017 Staff, www.dreamhost.com Resist! DOJ, Inauguration, Mass Surveillance, Trump Administration

By Staff of Dream Host - You would be shocked to see just how many of these challenges we’re obligatedto mount every year! Chris Ghazarian, our General Counsel, has taken issue with this particular search warrant for being a highly untargeted demand that chills free association and the right of free speech afforded by the Constitution. Demand for Information. The request from the DOJ demands that DreamHost hand over 1.3 millionvisitor IP addresses — in addition to contact information, email content, and photos of thousands of people — in an effort to determine who simply visitedthe website. (Our customer has also been notified of the pending warrant on the account.) That information could be used to identify any individuals who used this site to exercise and express political speech protected under the Constitution’s First Amendment. That should be enough to set alarm bells off in anyone’s mind.

Barrett Brown: DoJ Subpoenaed Intercept For Records On Him

July 2, 2017 Kevin Gosztola and Brian Sonenstein, www.shadowproof.com Educate! Barrett Brown, DOJ, Media

By Kevin Gosztola and Brian Sonenstein for ShadowProof. The in-house counsel for the Intercept received a subpoena from the Justice Department for all contracts and communications between journalist Barrett Brown and the editor, Roger Hodge, who he worked with at the media organization. The subpoena also requested information on payments the Intercept made to him for his column, which he wrote while in federal prison. Brown was released from prison on November 29, 2016, after serving a prison sentence which stemmed from pleading guilty to threatening an FBI agent, obstructing justice, and being an accessory to a cyber attack. He spent two years in pretrial incarceration prior to his sentence in 2014. Brown said there are a couple “broad possibilities” for why the government would subpoena the Intercept.

Trump Names Climate Foe As Top DOJ Environment Attorney

June 8, 2017 Marianne Lavelle and John H. Cushman Jr., www.insideclimatenews.org Educate! Climate Change, DOJ, Donald Trump, Environment, Policy

By Marianne Lavelle and John H. Cushman Jr. for Inside Climate News - Jeffrey Bossert Clark, a lawyer who has repeatedly challenged the scientific foundations of U.S. climate policy and was part of a legal team that represented BP in lawsuits stemming from the nation's worst oil spill, the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, was nominated by President Donald Trump on Tuesday to serve as the Justice Department's top environmental lawyer. Clark, a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Kirkland & Ellis, has represented the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in lawsuits challenging the federal government's authority to regulate carbon emissions. In court he has repeatedly argued that it is inappropriate to base government policymaking on the scientific consensus presented by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. "When did America risk coming to be ruled by foreign scientists and apparatchiks at the United Nations?" Clark demanded in a 2010 blog posting on the EPA's endangerment finding. Clark was prominently involved in industry challenges to the EPA's "endangerment finding" that set the scientific basis for all subsequent attempts to regulate greenhouse gases, including from autos and industrial sources.

DOJ’s Mysterious Marijuana Subcommittee

June 7, 2017 Steven Nelson, www.usnews.com Educate! DOJ, Marijuana

By Steven Nelson for US News - Led by an outspoken legalization opponent, Jeff Sessions' Justice Department is reviewing federal marijuana policy, with significant changes possible soon. Almost nothing about the review process is publicly known and key players in the policy debate have not been contacted. The outcome of the review could devastate a multibillion-dollar industry and countermand the will of voters in eight states if the Obama administration's permissive stance on non-medical sales is reversed. What is known: The review is being conducted by a subcommittee of a larger crime-reduction task force that will issue recommendations by July 27. The subcommittee was announced in April alongside other subcommittees reviewing charging and sentencing. The task force is co-chaired by Steve Cook, an assistant U.S. attorney in Tennessee who like Sessions advocates harsh criminal penalties and a traditional view of drug prohibition. The other co-chair is Robyn Thiemann, a longtime department official who works as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Policy. The marijuana subcommittee is led by Michael Murray, counsel to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, U.S. News has learned.

FBI Used Patriot Act To Obtain ‘Large Collections’ Of Americans’ Data, DoJ Finds

May 13, 2017 Spencer Ackerman, www.theguardian.com Educate! DOJ, FBI, Mass Surveillance, Patriot Act

By Spencer Ackerman for The Guardian - As lawmakers and security agencies braced for a potential loss of the heart of the Patriot Act, a long-delayed Justice Department report showed that the FBI uses the surveillance authorities it provides for “large collections” of Americans’ internet records. Section 215 of the Patriot Act permits the FBI to collect business records, such as medical, educational and tax information or other “tangible things” relevant to an ongoing counter–terrorism or espionage investigation. Since 2006, the NSA had also secretly used it to collect US phone data in bulk. After Edward Snowden’s leaks allowed the Guardian to reveal the phone-records bulk collection in June 2013, deep political opposition coalesced around the bulk program – eclipsing the FBI’s acquisition of other data, which has long been an issue only for civil libertarians. But a Justice Department inspector general’s report finally released on Thursday covering the FBI’s use of Section 215 from 2007 to 2009 found that the bureau is using the business-records authority “to obtain large collections of metadata”, such as “electronic communication transactional information”.

Convicted For Protesting Jeff Sessions Is No Laughing Matter

May 7, 2017 Tighe Barry, www.popularresistance.org Resist! Criminal Justice, DOJ, Free Speech, Government

By Tighe Barry. In the recent past, frivolous charges like these would have been thrown out of court. But, Trump and his cronies in the Justice Department are going out of their way to crackdown on dissent, especially in the form of nonviolent protest. Republican officials are jumping on Trump’s bigoted bandwagon to restrict liberties at the local, state and national level. We see laws being passed in over a dozen states to make protesting a crime, while at the same time, North Dakota has passed a law where running over a protester is not a crime. We see state laws being passed to criminalize campaigns that support Palestinian rights. We see that over 200 people who protested Trump's inauguration have been prosecuted and charged with ridiculous offenses, such as felony rioting charges. We should see our Justice Department prosecuting real criminals, like those responsible for war, not convicting people for laughing in Congress. Unless we rise up and demand our first amendment right to dissent, then the joke will be on the American people. And that is no laughing matter.

Document Message From Sally Yates To Justice Department Lawyers Before She Was Fired

February 1, 2017 Staff, www.documents.latimes.com Educate! DOJ, Donald Trump

By Staff of Los Angeles Times - On January 27, 2017, the President signed an Executive Order regarding immigrants and refugees from certain Muslim-majority countries. The order has now been challenged in a number of jurisdictions. As the Acting Attorney General, it is my ultimate responsibility to determine the position of the Department of Justice in these actions. My role is different from that of the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), which, through administrations of both parties, has reviewed Executive Orders for form and legality before they are issued. OLC’s review is limited to the narrow question of whether, in OLC’s view, a proposed Executive Order is lawful on its face and properly drafted.

Lawyer Defending Racial Gerrymandering Picked For Top Civil Rights Job

January 28, 2017 Lee Fang, www.theintercept.com Educate! Civil Rights, DOJ, Trump Administration

By Lee Fang for The Intercept - JOHN GORE, AN ATTORNEY who has worked to defend laws that critics say are designed to weaken the voting rights of African-Americans and other minorities, was selected by President Donald Trump to serve as a senior civil rights official at the Department of Justice. Gore’s new role as Trump’s choice for deputy assistant attorney general of the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department is notable because he will lead the division that oversees civil rights laws, including voter suppression issues. Trump and his nominee to lead the Justice Department, Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, are strong supporters of voting restrictions such as voter identification.

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