Search results for

McCarthy is still short of the votes he needs to be speaker, and it's because of a staunch, anti-establishment, intransigent far-right group that wants government to do a lot less.

Najibullah Zazi, the Denver shuttle bus driver the FBI arrested last September in a failed bid to bomb New York's subways, is cooperating with prosecutors. That could win him -- and some family members -- a little-known reward granted to some informants.

More than 100 federal judicial slots are open, but Republicans continue to keep many of Obama's nominees bottled up in the confirmation process.

Lawyer James Cole is in line to serve as the deputy attorney general, but an op-ed on the Sept. 11 attacks and his role monitoring bookkeeping for insurance giant AIG could spur Republican opposition to his confirmation.

The move comes after Mayor Mitch Landrieu asked the Justice Department to intervene. The department's Civil Rights Division will investigate whether the police engaged in a pattern and practice of discrimination.

It took much longer for the House to be called in Republicans' favor that either party was expecting. When all is said and done, the GOP may wind up with just a 3- to 4-seat majority.

In the states where Supreme Court seats are decided in elections, interest groups are spending millions in bids to get judges who think like them into key positions.

Senators have spent two days confronting nominee Elena Kagan with questions about abortion, gun rights and presidential power. But while she may not get their votes, even Republican leaders say it seems likely she will make it to the Supreme Court.

On the opening day of her confirmation hearings, Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan vowed to serve with a "commitment to evenhandedness, principle and restraint." She said the court must also "recognize the limits on itself and respect the choices made by the American people."

Federal investigators are working to infiltrate the closed societies of biker gangs and bring criminal cases against their leaders. Last month, agents arrested more than two dozen members of the Outlaws motorcycle club, charging them with weapons and racketeering offenses.