Controversies
Marijuana Arrests in California Target Blacks and Latinos
California is not the place to be for Latinos and African-Americans who use marijuana. In city after city, these two minorities have been subject to disproportionately high levels of arrest and prosecution, according to studies produced by the D... read more
Major Polluters Fight to Keep Their Emission Records Secret
Oil companies and manufacturers are fighting new rules from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that require businesses to submit data on the amount of air pollution they release into the atmosphere. The EPA intends to publish the det... read more
Private Prison Industry Helped Create Anti-Immigrant Law in Arizona
Arizona’s controversial anti-immigration law wasn’t just the product of state Senator Russell Pearce’s effort to undo the “lawless” condition that illegal immigration has imposed on the nation. It was also driven by the private prison industry’s... read more
Class Action Suit Accuses Pennsylvania of Using Mine Fire to Seize Coal-Rich Land
State and local officials in Pennsylvania, as well as a law firm representing coal mining interests, are being sued for allegedly conspiring to move residents off their property for the sake of a land grab.
People living in the Borough of Ce... read more
Obama Justice Dept. Turns against Gene Patents
Opponents of biotechnology companies receiving human gene patents got a huge lift this week when the U.S. Department of Justice quietly filed a legal brief that reversed the government’s longstanding support of patenting the human genome.
Fe... read more
Federal Government Asks for Closed Courtroom to Protect Goldman Sachs Secrets
The U.S. Department of Justice has requested that a federal judge seal the courtroom of a trial involving computer code theft in order to protect trade secrets of Goldman Sachs.
Sergey Aleynikov was arrested by the FBI on charges of stealing... read more
Obama Uses Ashcroft Supreme Court Case to Advance White House Immunity
The U.S. Department of Justice under President Barack Obama is helping defend former Attorney General John Ashcroft against a lawsuit that claims the Bush administration official should be held liable for misusing the law during the post-Sept. 1... read more
Glaxo to Pay $750 Million over Tainted and Ineffective Drugs
GlaxoSmithKline agreed this week to pay the largest fine ever ($150 million) by a drug maker to settle criminal charges of having sold tainted products. The fine was part of a $750 million settlement reached with the U.S. Department of Justice t... read more
California County Forced to Drop 18 Cases for Lack of Judges and Courtrooms
Eighteen criminal cases in Riverside County, California, have been dismissed by the state’s Supreme Court due to a lack of judges and criminal courtrooms. District Attorney Rod Pacheco argued for delaying rather than dismissal of the cases, whic... read more
Treasury Tries to Ignore Citigroup-Related Freedom of Information Requests
Bloomberg News has tried since January 2009 to obtain information from the Department of the Treasury about $301 billion of securities owned by Citigroup that the government has agreed to guarantee. Despite President Barack Obama’s promise to ma... read more
Federal Court Rules Details of Secret Prison in Afghanistan Can Remain Secret
Details about the United States’ largest prison in Afghanistan will remain secret, according to a federal judge’s ruling this week. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) had sought documents from the Department of Defense and the CIA about t... read more
Defense Contractor Accused of Armed Robbery of Sub-Contractor in Afghanistan
Defense contractor EOD Technology (EODT) of Tennessee is being sued by its own subcontractor, Kuwait-based MAKS General Trading & Contracting, for stealing prefabricated homes built for American soldiers stationed at Bagram Air Base in Afghanist... read more
Commercial Digital Theft Tops Physical Theft for First Time
Hacking and other forms of electronic data theft are now a bigger problem for companies worldwide than old fashioned stealing of physical property.
The risk consulting company Kroll found in its latest annual survey that 27.3% of businesses ... read more
Gun Store in Maryland Linked to 2,500 Weapons Used by Criminals
Located just outside Washington, DC, in Forestville, Maryland, Realco gun shop is the place to go for criminals seeking weapons. An investigation by The Washington Post turned up 86 guns sold by Realco during the last 18 years that were linked t... read more
19 States Don’t Have Enough Federal Judges to Handle Case Loads
Judicial nominees continue to pile up in the U.S. Senate, where Republicans have blocked so many judges from being confirmed that 19 states now have “judicial emergencies” on their hands—meaning cases are backing up as the legal system becomes c... read more
Unusual Clash between Broadband Advocates and Weather Forecasters
As part of its push for the National Broadband Plan, the Obama administration wants to redirect certain portions of the broadcast spectrum for use by cellular companies so they can keep up with demand for advanced wireless Internet service. But th... read more