Laurie Kellman

October 25, 2007 | Law.com

By a vote of 59-38, the Senate on Wednesday confirmed Judge Leslie Southwick to a 5th Circuit seat after Republicans overpowered objections by Democrats who said he wasn't sensitive enough to the region's history of race relations. The nomination tested a fragile agreement to block President Bush's judicial nominations only in "extraordinary" circumstances. Some Democratic opponents said Southwick's writings, combined with the troubled racial history of the circuit, met this amorphous standard.

By Laurie Kellman

4 minute read

February 07, 2006 | Law.com

The subject was a sober one, and new to the Senate floor: Should the Senate vote on a bill that would set up a $140 billion fund for people sickened by asbestos exposure? Within minutes, the exchange spiraled into familiar election-year territory with Democrats calling the legislation Republican payback to corporate lobbyists and GOP senators accusing the Democrats of obstructionism.

By Laurie Kellman

3 minute read

July 27, 2007 | Law.com

A storm of perjury charges, subpoenas and political gamesmanship blew up and down Pennsylvania Avenue on Thursday as congressional Democrats widened what had started as a probe into whether President Bush's aides directed the firings of federal prosecutors. Justice Department officials sought to explain congressional testimony by FBI Director Robert Mueller that -- under protracted, hard-to-follow questioning -- seemed to contradict the sworn comments of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

By Laurie Kellman

6 minute read

August 16, 2002 | Law.com

Some 600 family members of Sept. 11 victims filed a trillion-dollar federal lawsuit Thursday against Saudi officials, banks and charities, charging they financed Osama bin Laden's network and the attacks on New York and Washington, D.C. The complaint, filed electronically in U.S. District Court in D.C., charges the defendants with racketeering, wrongful death, negligence and conspiracy.

By Laurie Kellman

4 minute read

July 26, 2007 | Law.com

The House Judiciary Committee voted contempt of Congress citations Wednesday against White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and President Bush's former legal counselor, Harriet Miers. The 22-17 party-line vote -- which would sanction the pair for failure to comply with subpoenas on the firings of several federal prosecutors -- advanced the citation to the full House. Republicans warned that a contempt citation would lose in federal court even if it got that far.

By Laurie Kellman

5 minute read

April 19, 2007 | Law.com

By Laurie Kellman

4 minute read

November 09, 2007 | The Legal Intelligencer

Michael Mukasey, a Washington outsider, was confirmed as U.S. attorney general in large part by promising to be an advocate of law enforcement, independent of White House and any other politics.

By By LAURIE KELLMAN

5 minute read

July 12, 2007 | The Legal Intelligencer

Loyal even after leaving the White House, President Bush's former political director Sara M. Taylor obeyed his instructions and declined to answer most of Congress' questions yesterday about her role in the firings of federal prosecutors.

By Laurie Kellman

5 minute read

June 12, 2007 | Law.com

By Laurie Kellman

5 minute read

May 02, 2007 | Law.com

A March 2006 Justice Department order obtained Monday by The Associated Press gave Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' then-Chief of Staff Kyle Sampson and later White House liaison Monica Goodling authority to hire and fire about 135 politically appointed DOJ employees who did not require Senate confirmation. Democrats pounced on news of the order, complaining that it had not been turned over to them among thousands of other documents released by the department about the U.S. Attorney firings.

By Laurie Kellman

3 minute read