US/DOJ

US/DOJ
Motto	Qui Pro Domina Justitia Sequitur (Who Pursues For Lady Justice)
Formation	July 1, 1870
Headquarters	Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building
Type	legal
Subgroups	•  United States Marshals Service •  Federal Bureau of Investigation •  Federal Bureau of Prisons •  National Institute of Corrections •  Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives •  Drug Enforcement Administration •  Office of the Inspector General
Interest of	Ty Clevenger
Subpage	•US/DOJ/Corruption
As a former associate editor of the Wall Street Journal summarised "Justice is something that exists outside the borders of the United States. Never expect to find justice within the United States."

Official narrative

Top down, hierarchically defined justice decided by a privileged few and enforced by violence if necessary. What could possibly go wrong with that ;)?

Executive privilege

In 1983, when Edwin Wilson‎ admitted various terrorism and arms dealing charges, but claimed he was working with the CIA, the 3rd most senior CIA officer in the organisation, Charles A. Briggs‎, produced an affidavit that denied all knowledge. 20 years later, judge Lynn Hughes concluded that "because the government knowingly used false evidence against him and suppressed favorable evidence, his conviction will be vacated." On his release, he sued the officials for purjury, but another judge, Lee Rosenthal‎ ruled that they were immune from prosecution.

Corruption

In an essay about 9-11, Paul Craig Roberts wrote "Justice is something that exists outside the borders of the United States. Never expect to find justice within the United States." Mark Gorton includes the "criminalization of the Justice Department" in his summary list of the crimes of the cabal. The DOJ The DOJ has been accused of 'gangstalking'.

Lack of oversight

In its review of the DOJ's findings, the Project on Government Oversight made clear that the Justice Department conceals some of its bad behavior from the public, explaining that "as a general practice, the Justice Department does not make public the names of attorneys who acted improperly or the defendants whose cases were affected. The result: the Department, its lawyers, and the internal watchdog office itself are insulated from meaningful public scrutiny and accountability." USA Today concurs that "the Justice Department consistently conceals its own investigations of misconduct from the public." A 1993 government auditor concluded that "the system they have in place could not be better for sweeping things under the rug."

Whistleblowers

In 2014 Alayne Fleischmann‎ blew the whistle on the DOJ's collaboration with the SEC to try to sweep industry wide financial fraud under the carpet.

Illustrative legal cases

In 2014, the US Supreme Court ruled that for-profit corporations such as Hobby Lobby should be considered "persons" under a law intended to protect religious liberties. By contrast, the US government claimed that under the same law that humans imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay should not be considered "persons".

Saleh v. Bush

Full article: Saleh v. Bush

Sundus Shaker Saleh, an Iraqi single mother and refugee living in Jordan filed a complaint in March 2013 against George W. Bush, Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice and Paul Wolfowitz, arguing that they lied to the US public to deceitfully initiate a war of agression against Iraq. The United States Department of Justice brought 2 motions to dismiss the suit, claiming that since the defendants were acting within their scope of employment when planning and waging the Iraq War, they can not be held individually accountable for the harm caused. The case is currently in an unexplained legal limbo, since the hearing was cancelled sine die without explanation.

Clapper v. Amnesty International USA

Full article: Clapper v. Amnesty International USA

The US Supreme Court ruled, 5-4, that the case should be dismissed because the plaintiffs didn't have "standing" because the ACLU couldn't prove with near-certainty that their clients, including journalists and human rights advocates, were targets of surveillance. The court relied on two claims by the Justice Department

1. That the NSA would only get the content of Americans' communications without a warrant when they are targeting a foreigner abroad for surveillance,
2. That the Justice Department would notify criminal defendants who have been spied on under the Fisa Amendments Act

Both of these points are manifestly untrue after leaks by Edward Snowden prove that mass surveillance is targeting almost everyone, and no one is being notified of the fact. These manifest untruths notwithstanding, the ruling remains, more or less establishing a de facto precedent that anything done in secret is lawful.

Hedges v. Obama

Full article: Hedges v. Obama

Chris Hedges and a group of other journalists argued that the 2012 NDAA was unconstitutional. The act gave permission to the U.S. government to indefinitely detain people "who are part of or substantially support Al Qaeda, the Taliban or associated forces engaged in hostilities against the United States". On July 17, 2013, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, citing Clapper v. Amnesty International USA, ruled that the plaintiffs lacked legal 'standing' to challenge the law because it “simply says nothing about the government’s authority to detain citizens.” The court held that under their interpretation the government could not use the particular law challenged by the citizen plaintiffs to militarily detain them, so they had no basis for the court to hear their case.

Civil asset forfeiture

The Justice Department has allowed the DEA to seize the property of people who are not accused of a crime. In 2015, the Wall Street Journal' did not criticise the practice, but observed that it had "proven to be controversial", noting that it netted $3.9 billion in 2014.

 

An event carried out

Event	Description
Palmer Raids	A series of raids in 1919-1920 to capture and arrest foreign-born leftists and deport them from the United States. Breakthrough for J. Edgar Hoover.

 

A Document by US/DOJ

Title	Document type	Publication date	Subject(s)	Description
File:USDOJ - Eyewitness Evidence - A Guide For Law Enforcement.pdf	guidebook	October 1999	Witness Evidence Standard opatering procedure	DOJ Guidelines on Eye Witness testimony

 

Related Document

Title	Type	Publication date	Author(s)	Description
Document:The Happiest of Days	blog post	25 June 2024	Craig Murray	Craig Murray: "I should be plain I have always advised Julian and Stella to take a plea deal if offered and get out of jail. I have no doubt this was a life or death choice."

Rating

30 November 2018 Robin  This article points to a lot of material that expose the USDOJ for what it is.
Although it barely scratches the surface, this article gives a useful set of pointers to information to help the reader understand what the modern US DOJ is.

Many thanks to our Patrons who cover ~2/3 of our hosting bill. Please join them if you can.