Laurie Kellman

November 11, 2005 | Law.com

Responding to brutal attacks on judges, their families and co-workers, the House voted Wednesday to set aside $40 million a year to upgrade courthouse security and slap sentences ranging from 30 years in prison to the death penalty on anyone convicted of such a crime. But the bill's opponents say judges should be trusted to decide the sentences. The bill faces an uncertain future, partly because President Bush has concerns about a provision that would allow federal judges to televise court proceedings.

By Laurie Kellman

4 minute read

May 03, 2007 | Law.com

Senators subpoenaed Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Wednesday, ordering him to provide by May 15 all e-mails related to presidential adviser Karl Rove and the firings of eight federal prosecutors. Not accepting the White House's explanation that some Rove-related e-mails may have been lost, Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., subpoenaed any in the custody of the Justice Department. It was the committee's first subpoena issued since the firings caused an uproar earlier this year.

By Laurie Kellman

3 minute read

April 13, 2007 | Law.com

The White House's claim that e-mails sent on a Republican Party account might have been lost was challenged Thursday by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, who quipped that even his teenage neighbor could find them. White House officials insisted the administration was making a genuine effort to recover any missing e-mails. The investigation has revealed that White House e-mails about official business -- on accounts intended for political matters -- may be gone, in violation of the law.

By Laurie Kellman

5 minute read

May 18, 2007 | Law.com

Support for Alberto Gonzales sank further Thursday as Democrats proposed a no-confidence vote, a fifth GOP senator urged his resignation and another Republican predicted he won't survive a congressional investigation. The White House shrugged off the vote idea, but GOP officials privately admitted Republicans were still reeling from testimony that Gonzales, as White House counsel, had pressed AG John Ashcroft to certify the legality of Bush's eavesdropping program while Ashcroft was in intensive care.

By Laurie Kellman

5 minute read

July 25, 2007 | Law.com

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales denied that he and former White House chief of staff Andy Card tried to exploit then-AG John Ashcroft's frail condition by pressuring him to recertify President Bush's intelligence-gathering program during a 2004 hospital visit. It was one of a number of issues on which lawmakers pounded Gonzales on Tuesday. Sen. Arlen Specter suggested appointing a special prosecutor to investigate whether the department fired federal prosecutors at the White House's direction.

By Laurie Kellman

4 minute read

June 27, 2006 | Law.com

The Senate Judiciary Committee is opening hearings into what has become the White House's favorite tool for overriding Congress in the name of national security: signing statements reserving the president's right to ignore the law. Committee Chairman Arlen Specter has been keeping a laundry list of White House practices he bluntly says could amount to abuses of executive power. But the hearing also is about countering any influence that the signing statements may have on court decisions.

By Laurie Kellman

4 minute read

March 21, 2007 | Law.com

A defiant President Bush warned Democrats on Tuesday to accept his offer to have top aides speak about the firings of federal prosecutors only privately and not under oath or risk a constitutional showdown from which he would not back down. Democrats' response was swift and firm: They said they would start authorizing subpoenas for the White House aides. But Bush said he would fight any subpoena effort in court: "We will not go along with a partisan fishing expedition aimed at honorable public servants."

By Laurie Kellman

5 minute read

November 02, 2007 | Law.com

No Mukasey? No attorney general. That seemed to be President Bush's message Thursday during a double dose of remarks in which he complained that the Democrats were unfairly hesitating to confirm Michael Mukasey over his refusal to declare waterboarding torture. Opposition in the Senate continued to grow, however, when Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., became the fourth of 10 Democrats on the Judiciary Committee to announce that he will vote against Mukasey's confirmation during a test vote on Tuesday.

By Laurie Kellman

5 minute read

September 13, 2007 | The Legal Intelligencer

By Laurie Kellman

3 minute read

July 10, 2007 | Law.com

President Bush invoked executive privilege Monday to deny requests by Congress for testimony from two former aides about the firings of federal prosecutors. The White House, however, did offer again to make former counsel Harriet Miers and one-time political director Sara Taylor available for private, off-the-record interviews. In a letter to the heads of the House and Senate Judiciary panels, White House counsel Fred Fielding (pictured) insisted that Bush was acting in good faith.

By Laurie Kellman

4 minute read