Patrick Leahy

The US Senate Wednesday unanimously approved legislation to reduce 20-year-old sentencing disparities for offenders caught with crack cocaine versus the drug in its powder form.

PROMISES, PROMISES: Exceptions to federal open records law flourish under Obama administration. One year into its promise of greater government transparency, the Obama administration is more often citing exceptions to the nation's open records law to withhold federal records even as the number of requests for information declines, according to a review by The Associated Press of agency audits about the Freedom of Information Act.

Attorney general: Government is disclosing more information to the public, still more needed. Attorney General Eric Holder vowed Monday to pursue a government-wide strategy to open greater amounts of information to the public.

The United States is looking to break a taboo and train an elite Indonesian force linked to past abuses, as President Barack Obama courts the world's largest Muslim-majority nation with a visit.

The United States is looking to break a taboo and train an elite Indonesian force linked to past abuses, as President Barack Obama courts the world's largest Muslim-majority nation with a visit.

The gap that never closes: Government faulted for long-term failure to preserve e-mails. As the Justice Department hunts for the latest batch of missing federal e-mails, the officials who oversee spending of $71 billion a year for information technology got a big raspberry Friday for a 14-year-long failure to ensure that government e-mails are preserved.

Gay groups are cheering Wednesday's Senate introduction of a bill that would repeal 'don't ask, don't tell' . Gay groups are cheering Wednesday's Senate introduction of a bill that would repeal ?don't ask, don't tell,? the military policy that bans open gay service. Independent Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman is the lead sponsor of the measure titled the 'Military Readiness Enhancement Act of 2010'. ?Today Senator Lieberman made history,? Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a group that lobbies for repeal of the law, said in a statement. ?We applaud the Senator's unwavering commitment to a strong national defense and civil rights.? Signed into law by President Clinton, the 1993 law prescribes discharge for gay and lesbian service members who do not remain closeted or celibate. Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay rights advocate, called introduction of the bill ?bold? and ?patriotic,? adding that

Senate chairman demands search for e-mails of lawyers who worked on Bush interrogation policy. A Senate committee chairman told the Justice Department on Friday to hunt for the missing e-mails of an attorney who provided legal justification for the Bush administration's harsh interrogation of terror suspects.

House sends extension of key provisions of Patriot Act to Obama; Democrats yield on privacy. Key provisions of the nation's primary counterterrorism law would be extended for a year under a bill passed by the House Thursday evening after Democrats retreated from adding new privacy protections.

Farmers, advocates optimistic new USDA rules mean better enforcement of organic labeling rules. New federal rules that define what makes milk and meat organic have natural food advocates optimistic that the government is committed to ensuring the label means something.

Farmers, advocates optimistic new USDA rules mean better enforcement of organic labeling rules. New federal rules that define what makes milk and meat organic have natural food advocates optimistic that the government is committed to ensuring the label means something.

Senate to hold hearings on Bush administration lawyers' so-called 'torture memos'. The Justice Department is closing the books on its probe of the Bush administration lawyers whose legal memorandums authorized the CIA to waterboard terrorism suspects, but the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee says he remains offended by the memos and will hold hearings

Should the government be allowed to track a person's movements based on cell phone records, without evidence of criminal wrongdoing?

Appeals court considers whether law enforcement needs warrants to track cell phone location. Should the government be allowed to track a person's movements based on cell phone records, without evidence of criminal wrongdoing?

Labor Dept reverses Bush-era regulations on seasonal foreign farm workers. The Obama administration moved Thursday to increase wages and job safety protections for temporary farm workers, reversing a Bush-era policy that unions said fostered cheap labor and undercut domestic hiring.

WASHINGTON - Paul Kirk said a poignant goodbye yesterday to the Senate, invoking the memory of the man he briefly replaced, Edward M. Kennedy, as he implored his colleagues to adopt Kennedy's bipartisan spirit and get to work on fixing the nation's problems. But the Senate Kirk holds dearly in his memories no longer exists, the Massachusetts Democrat lamented as he completed his last day in office. And the audience for his farewell Senate address provided punctuation for his remarks: not a single Republican, senator nor staff worker, showed up. ``With the results from Massachusetts, much has been made of the fact that the numbers have changed in the US Senate. It is true. The numbers have changed. But the American people are asking a more important question: Will anything else change?'' Kirk asked his colleagues, standing for the last time behind the desk Kennedy used for nearly 47 years. ``Will the Democratic majority, despite its still solid numerical advantage, be forced to cling to

AG Holder says he made decision to charge Christmas Day terror suspect; no dissent by others. Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday he made the decision to charge the Christmas Day terror suspect in civilian court rather than the military system, with no objection from all the other relevant departments of the government.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bipartisan group of nine U.S. senators on Tuesday offered legislation to force special military trials for the accused September 11, 2001, conspirators, further complicating President Barack Obama's bid to try them in a civilian court.

Obama's high court smackdown prompts read-my-lips dissent from a justice and a decorum debate. An unusual piece of theater that unfolded in the blink of an eye at the State of the Union speech raises questions:

Justice Dept. files antitrust suit against Dean Foods over milk sales to schools, stores. The Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit against the nation's largest dairy company Friday, alleging that Dean Foods Co. purchased a smaller dairy company in Wisconsin to quash competition and drive up milk prices.