13-72420 Abisuk Sinsaeng v. Eric Holder, Jr.
A citizen of Thailand petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals #39; decision finding that his conviction constituted an aggravated felony for obs...
By: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
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13-72420 Abisuk Sinsaeng v. Eric Holder, Jr. - Video
Attorney General Eric Holder told reporters he has called for an after-action review to identify and isolate the criminal elements who rioted in Ferguson, Missouri inthe wake of a grand jury decision not to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in the August 9 shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown.
"I was disappointed that some members of the community resorted to violence rather than respecting what I thought were the really heartfelt words of Michael Brown Sr. and the wishes that he expressed about how he wanted his son's memory to be honored with nonviolence," Holder told reporters Tuesday. "It is clear, I think, that acts of violence threaten to drown out those who have legitimate voices, legitimate demonstrators and those acts of violence cannot and will not be condoned."
Holder was flanked by Justice Department officials as he read from a prepared statement. He said he is being briefed about the situation on the ground in Ferguson, Missouri by Justice Department officials who are overseeing the ongoing federal civil rights investigations, and also briefed President Obama. He reiterated that the federal civil rights investigations are ongoing and will be completely independent of the local investigation.
He also said he was "encouraged" by the peaceful protesters on the streets, and said that Justice Department officials will remain in contact with the leaders of those protests to help isolate "those individuals who are inclined toward violence."
"The way in which we have made progress in this country is when we have seen peaceful nonviolent demonstrations," Holder said. "That has led to the change that has been the most long lasting and the most pervasive."
The Justice Department will also be implementing pilot programs five unnamed cities that will aim to build trust between communities and law enforcement. Holder did not take questions from reporters, and moved on to a meeting with Justice Department officials about Ferguson.
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Holder speaks about next steps for Ferguson
The fact that outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder has prosecuted more people under the Espionage Act than all previous attorneys general combined is an inescapable legacy of his time in office. All of those cases were brought against government workers or contractors accused of leaking classified information to the media, which led Trevor Timm, co-founder of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, to call Holder the worst Attorney General for the press in a generation.
Recently, Holder has seemed intent on escaping that title. Several weeks after announcing his plans to step down, he said during an interview at the Washington Ideas Forum that his biggest mistake in office was naming Fox News reporter James Rosen as a co-conspirator to commit espionage in one of the leak investigations.
And in the latter half of his time in office, Holder has expressed support for a media shield law and rewritten the Department of Justices guidelines to tighten rules for subpoenaing reporters during criminal investigations.
But the Obama administration has undoubtedly tilted the legal landscape against leakers and national security reporters. If Holder wants to change that, he will have to unpave a long road of specific policies laid down by the DOJ during his tenure, not simply express remorse and draw up broad new guidelines.
In 2010, Thomas Drake, Shamai Leibowitz, Chelsea Manning, Stephen Kim, and Jeffrey Sterling were all charged under the Espionage Act. Taken as a block, those prosecutions set the precedent that the government could use a law written in 1917 with double agents in mind as a weapon in the fight against modern leakers of national security information.
With the Espionage Act, Holder chose a tool that could potentially be very dangerous to journalists, because it is vague enough to criminalize all kinds of information dissemination. Writing specifically about Mannings disclosures to Wikileaks, Benjamin Wittes, editor in chief of the Lawfare blog, notes that by its terms, it criminalizes not merely the disclosure of national defense information by organizations such as Wikileaks, but also the reporting on that information by countless news organizations.
That was not a problem in several of the early cases. Leibowitz quickly pled guilty and was sentenced to 20 months in prison. The charges against Drake fell apart in 2011, and he pled guilty to a misdemeanor. In 2012, John Kiriakou, a CIA officer, was charged under the Espionage Act but convicted under a different law and sentenced to 30 months in prison. The investigations into Sterling, Kim, and Manning, however, have dragged on much longer and carry implications for press freedoms beyond their membership in the group of Espionage Act cases.
The investigation of CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling is based on a chapter in a 2006 book by New York Times reporter James Risen, in which he writes about American attempts to undermine Irans nuclear program. Risen was first subpoenaed to testify against his source for the chapter, suspected to be Sterling, under the Bush administration, but he fought the order until it expired in 2009.
In 2010, however, Holders DOJ renewed the subpoena against Risen. Soon after, the government anticipated and began arguing against Risens attempt to quash the subpoena on the grounds of his reporters privilege. In an argument filed in May 2011, the DOJ wrote, there exists neither a First Amendment nor a common law reporters privilege that shields a reporter from his obligation to testify, even if the reporters testimony reveals confidential sources and information.
The government was still making that argument in the spring of 2013, when Holders pattern of involving journalists in leak investigations took center stage in the national media.
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Eric Holders lasting damage to press freedom
Attorney General Eric Holder takes his seat as he attends the ceremonies for the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Monday, Nov. 24, 2014, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) more >
The Justice Departments civil rights investigation in Ferguson will be thorough, Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday, adding that law enforcement must work to restore trust and foster understanding.
Mr. Holders comments come the day after a grand jury decided not to indict Officer Darren Wilson for the death of black teenager Michael Brown. The announcement set off a wave of protests around the country and rioting in Ferguson.
Mr. Holder said he was disappointed that some members of the community resorted to violence, and that the acts of violence threaten to drown out those that have legitimate voices.
The way weve made progress in this country is weve seen peaceful, nonviolent demonstrations, the attorney general said.
Problems of racial mistrust arent isolated to Ferguson, and Mr. Holder said the Justice Department is launching pilot programs in five cities to help build better relationships between the police forces and the communities they serve.
Department officials said they would announce the five cities within the coming days.
This isnt just about talking, Mr. Holder said of the program. We want to make sure concrete steps are taken.
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Eric Holder promises 'thorough' civil-rights probe in Ferguson
11-70086 Abu Howlader v. Eric Holder, Jr.
A citizen of Bangladesh petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals #39; denial of his applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and protecti...
By: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
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11-70086 Abu Howlader v. Eric Holder, Jr. - Video