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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

2017.02.23Sean Spicer says Justice Department will "take action" against states that have legalized marijuana. townhall.com (See also First 100 Days, Sean Spicer)
2017.03.10Trump abruptly orders 46 Obama appointed Federal Prosecutors to resign. nytimes.com (See also First 100 Days, Assaults on Government, Fascism)
The president told the holdover United States attorneys to tender their resignations immediately, including — surprisingly — Preet Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan.
2017.03.10U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions abruptly asks the remaining 46 chief federal prosecutors left over from the Obama administration to resign, including Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who was asked to stay on in November by Trump. reuters.com (See also First 100 Days, Jeff Sessions)
2017.03.13Department of Justice asks for more time to respond to a request from lawmakers for evidence about Trump's allegation that then-President Barack Obama wiretapped him during the 2016 election campaign. reuters.com (See also First 100 Days, Jeff Sessions, False Statements)
2017.03.14Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, says he is confident the Justice Department will provide evidence to support Trump’s unproven accusation that his predecessor spied on him. nytimes.com (See also First 100 Days)
2017.03.15FBI Director James Comey briefs leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee and agrees to testify publicly regarding Russian meddling in the presidential election. secure.politico.com (See also FBI, Russian Meddling in Election)
2017.07.19The US Justice Department rolled out a new policy that allows the government to seize more possessions and money under federal authority, in some cases circumventing state or local laws, even when a person has not been charged or convicted of a crime. buzzfeed.com (See also Jeff Sessions, Assaults on Civil Liberties)
2017.07.19Trump harshly criticized his attorney general and one of his most loyal supporters, Jeff Sessions, for recusing himself from the ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, indicating that he regretted the choice. washingtonpost.com (See also Jeff Sessions, Russian Meddling in Election, Trump Relationship with Russia)
2017.07.20Trump claims Jeff Sessions' recusal is "very unfair" to him. washingtonpost.com (See also Jeff Sessions, Russia, Trump Relationship with Russia, Russian Meddling in Election, Legal Issues)
2017.07.21Russia’s ambassador to Washington told his superiors in Moscow that he discussed campaign-related matters, including policy issues important to Moscow, with Jeff Sessions during the 2016 presidential race, contrary to public assertions by the embattled attorney general. washingtonpost.com (See also 2016 Campaign, Russia, Russian Meddling in Election, Jeff Sessions)
2017.07.25Trump launched another public assault on his own attorney general, Jeff Sessions, questioning why the Justice Department chief has not done more to investigate alleged “crimes” by Hillary Clinton. washingtonpost.com (See also Unpresidential Behavior, Jeff Sessions)
2017.07.27Senator Lindsey Graham told reporters he planned to introduce legislation that would block any Trump attempts to fire the special counsel. politico.com (See also Legal Issues, Jeff Sessions)
2017.07.27The Justice Department, intervening in an important private employment case, urged a federal appeals court to rule that civil rights law does not bar job discrimination based on sexual orientation. washingtonpost.com (See also LGBTQIA, Legal Activity, Assaults on Civil Liberties)
2017.08.01Justice Department officials are planning a new project to investigate and sue universities over affirmative action admissions policies they determine discriminate against white applicants. washingtonpost.com (See also Jeff Sessions, Black Americans, Asian Americans, Mexican Americans, Department of Education)
2017.08.04Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a harsh rebuke of leaks and the media that report them, and signaled that the Justice Department could be changing how it deals with reporters in such cases, while offering no details about the scope or timeline of the review. buzzfeed.com (See also Attempts to Discredit Media, Jeff Sessions)
2017.08.08The Justice Department has reversed its position in a high-profile voting case in Ohio, siding with the state in its effort to purge thousands of people from its rolls for not voting in recent elections. washingtonpost.com (See also Fascism, Jeff Sessions)
The move is part of a broader campaign by the Trump administration to support restrictions on who is eligible to vote, a radical change in philosophy from the previous Justice Department, which sued a number of states over voting laws that it deemed discriminatory against minorities.
2017.08.14San Francisco has joined Chicago as it became the latest city to sue the Trump administration over its threat to withhold federal grant money from jurisdictions that refuse to fully cooperate with immigration authorities. buzzfeed.com (See also Immigration, Legal Issues)
2017.08.14Web hoster DreamHost says it has been asked to hand over to the Justice Department more than 1.3 million IP addresses on visitors to a site that helped organize anti-Trump protests earlier this year. forbes.com (See also Assaults on Civil Liberties, Fascism)
2017.09.03The Justice Department said in a court filing that it has no evidence to support Donald Trump's assertion that his predecessor, Barack Obama, wiretapped the phones in Trump Tower before last year's election. cnn.com (See also Legal Issues, False Statements)
2017.09.05The Trump administration announced Tuesday it would begin to unwind an Obama-era program known as DACA that allows younger undocumented immigrants to live in the country without fear of deportation, calling the program unconstitutional. washingtonpost.com (See also Immigration, Jeff Sessions, Department of Homeland Security, Racism)
2017.09.15The Trump administration on Friday escalated a battle with government ethics groups by declining, even in the face of a federal court order from the Justice Department, to release the identities of individuals visiting with President Trump at his family’s Mar-a-Lago resort. nytimes.com (See also Legal Issues, Corruption, Conflicts of Interest)
2017.10.03In January, the Justice Department cleared the way for Donald Trump to hire Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, by declaring earlier opinions erroneous or obsolete. politico.com (See also Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump, Nepotism)
2017.10.05US Attorney General Jeff Sessions has reversed a federal government policy that said transgender workers were protected from discrimination under a 1964 civil rights law. buzzfeed.com (See also LGBTQIA, Legal Activity, Jeff Sessions)
Sessions' directive says, "Title VII’s prohibition on sex discrimination encompasses discrimination between men and women but does not encompass discrimination based on gender identity per se, including transgender status.”
2017.10.09A judge ordered the web hosting company DreamHost to redact identifying information about visitors to a website used to coordinate a protest during Donald Trump’s inauguration, imposing further limits on an extensive warrant obtained by the Justice Department that initially aimed to collect visitors’ IP addresses. gizmodo.com (See also Assaults on Civil Liberties, Fascism)
2017.10.10A little-noticed mandate from the Trump administration has cleared the way for some people with outstanding arrest warrants to purchase guns, a change that worries law enforcement officials who say it could be allowing dangerous criminals to arm themselves. myajc.com (See also Jeff Sessions)