Department of Justice
The mission of the Department of Justice is:
To enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law; to ensure public safety against threats foreign and domestic; to provide federal leadership in preventing and controlling crime; to seek just punishment for those guilty of unlawful behavior; and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans.
Source: Department of Justice
It is headed by the United States Attorney General, a cabinet position nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
See also Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Timeline
| 2017.12.21 | The Justice Department wiped a wide swath of "guidance documents" off the books on Thursday, withdrawing 25 documents — including one addressing integration of people with disabilities in state and local government programs and another on standards for assessing citizenship status discrimination. buzzfeed.com (See also People with Disabilities, Jeff Sessions, Immigrants) |
| 2018.01.02 | Donald Trump on Tuesday appeared to suggest that Huma Abedin, a former top aide to Hillary Clinton, should face jail time, days after the State Department posted emails found on her estranged husband’s computer that included confidential government information. washingtonpost.com (See also Fascism, Belief in Conspiracy Theories, Assaults on Civil Liberties, Department of State) |
| 2018.01.02 | Donald Trump's pick to run Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) called for a crackdown on so-called sanctuary cities, saying politicians who help run them should be charged with crimes. thehill.com (See also Fascism, Immigration, Jeff Sessions) |
| 2018.01.04 | Donald Trump gave firm instructions in March to the White House’s top lawyer: stop the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, from recusing himself in the Justice Department’s investigation into whether Mr. Trump’s associates had helped a Russian campaign to disrupt the 2016 election. nytimes.com (See also Jeff Sessions, 2016 Election, Corruption, Russian Meddling in Election) |
| 2018.01.16 | The Department of Justice said on Tuesday that it will ask the Supreme Court to immediately review a federal judge’s ruling that ordered the government to restart a program that shields some young illegal immigrants from deportation. nytimes.com (See also Supreme Court, Immigration) |
| 2018.01.21 | Even though the Trump administration released a report supposedly from the Department of Homeland Security saying that "73% of terrorists were ‘foreign-born," DHS analysts had nothing to do with the report or the conclusion. thedailybeast.com (See also Immigration, Nationalism, Department of Homeland Security, Jeff Sessions, Muslims) |
| 2018.01.22 | Attorney General Jeff Sessions has consistently urged FBI Director Christopher Wray to make a “fresh start” by cleaning house and firing his core team, including Andrew McCabe - the man who the White House just picked to lead the FBI when Donald Trump fired James Comey, causing Wray to threaten his resignation. splinternews.com (See also Corruption, Legal Issues, Jeff Sessions) |
| 2018.01.23 | Attorney General Jeff Sessions was questioned for several hours as part of the special counsel investigation, and the former F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, was interviewed by the office last year, marking the first time that investigators for the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, are known to have questioned a member of President Trump’s cabinet. nytimes.com (See also Jeff Sessions, Trump Relationship with Russia, Legal Issues) |
| 2018.01.24 | A request by the Justice Department to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census could shift the nation’s balance of political power from cities to more rural communities over the next decade and give Republicans a new advantage drawing electoral boundaries. washingtonpost.com (See also Racism, Voter Suppression, Mick Mulvaney) |
| 2018.01.24 | The Justice Department is threatening 23 so-called sanctuary cities, including New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, with subpoenas if they fail to provide documents to show whether local law enforcement officers are sharing information with federal immigration authorities. usatoday.com (See also Immigration, Nationalism) |
| 2018.01.29 | Andrew G. McCabe abruptly stepped down on Monday as the F.B.I.’s deputy director after months of withering criticism from Donald Trump, telling friends he felt pressure from the head of the bureau to leave, adding to what has already been a chaotic upheaval at the F.B.I. under Mr. Trump, who has responded to an investigation into his campaign with broadside attacks against both the bureau and the Justice Department. nytimes.com (See also Unprecedented Actions, Unpresidential Behavior, Corruption, Jeff Sessions) |
| 2018.01.30 | FBI Director Christopher Wray told the White House he opposes release of a classified Republican memo alleging bias at the FBI and Justice Department because it contains inaccurate information and paints a false narrative. bloomberg.com (See also Corruption) |
| 2018.01.31 | Donald Trump asked Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein if he was "on my team" during a December meeting at the White House, becoming the fourth report of Trump demanding loyalty from a Justice Department official. axios.com (See also Corruption, Legal Issues) |
| 2018.01.31 | The FBI released a statement condemning a push by House Republicans to release a secret memo that purports to show how the bureau and the Justice Department abused their authorities to obtain a warrant to spy on a former Trump campaign adviser. nytimes.com (See also 2016 Campaign, Corruption) |
| 2018.02.01 | The Department of Justice has “effectively shuttered” an office created during the Obama administration to expand access to legal services to people who can’t afford them. splinternews.com (See also Jeff Sessions, Americans in Poverty) |
| 2018.02.09 | Rachel L. Brand, the No. 3 official at the Justice Department, plans to step down after nine months on the job as the country’s top law enforcement agency has been under attack by Donald Trump. nytimes.com (See also Resignations and Dismissals, Jeff Sessions, 2016 Election) |
| 2018.02.11 | ICE has arrested more than 37,000 "non-criminal" people in 2017 - a rate more than double the previous year. washingtonpost.com (See also Immigration, Legal Issues) |
| 2018.02.25 | More than 13 months into the Trump administration, the Justice Department is now officially without its Senate-confirmed No. 3 in charge revealing that there are very few people serving in “permanent” roles in the Justice Department. buzzfeed.com (See also Jeff Sessions, Assaults on Government) |
| 2018.03.01 | Donald Trump suggested using the death penalty on drug dealers to address the opioid epidemic, equating providing lethal drugs with murder. politico.com (See also Domestic Policy, Unpresidential Behavior, Jeff Sessions) |
| 2018.03.06 | The Justice Department is suing California over immigration laws that oppose Mr. Trump’s agenda, saying state laws make it impossible for federal immigration officials to deport criminals born outside of the United States. nytimes.com (See also Immigration, Jeff Sessions, Legal Activity) |
| 2018.03.16 | Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, a little more than 24 hours before McCabe was set to retire — a move that McCabe alleged was an attempt to slander him and undermine the ongoing special counsel investigation into the Trump campaign. washingtonpost.com (See also 2016 Campaign, Jeff Sessions, Conflicts of Interest, Resignations and Dismissals) |
| 2018.03.21 | Attorney General Jeff Sessions directed states to pursue the death penalty in certain drug-related cases as an answer to the opioid epidemic—a plan Donald Trump first announced this week in New Hampshire. splinternews.com (See also Jeff Sessions, Domestic Policy) |
| 2018.03.21 | Nearly a year before Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired senior FBI official Andrew McCabe for what Sessions called a "lack of candor," McCabe oversaw a federal criminal investigation into whether Sessions himself lacked candor when testifying before Congress about contacts with Russian operatives. abcnews.go.com (See also Jeff Sessions, False Statements, Resignations and Dismissals) |
| 2018.04.19 | Donald Trump's effort to crack down on sanctuary cities suffered another legal setback as a federal appeals court in Chicago upheld a nationwide injunction against making federal grant funding contingent on cooperation with immigration enforcement. politico.com (See also Immigration, Legal Activity, just) A three-judge panel—all of whom are Republican appointees—ruled that there were strong indications that the administration exceeded its legal authority in trying to implement the new conditions without approval from Congress. |
| 2018.12.04 | The Trump administration freed federal prosecutors on Thursday to more aggressively enforce marijuana laws, effectively threatening to undermine the legalization movement that has spread to six states, rescinding an Obama-era policy that had discouraged federal prosecutors from bringing charges of marijuana-related crimes in states that have legalized sales of the drug. nytimes.com (See also Reversals, Jeff Sessions) |