Carrie Johnson

Officials in the U.S. Senate and the executive branch increasingly expect the next attorney general to win confirmation in 2015, rather than pushing a candidate through during the lame-duck session of Congress later this year.

The current occupant of the job, Eric Holder, nodded to that likely possibility last week ...

The Department of Homeland Security is beefing up security at federal buildings as a precautionary measure after recent attacks in Canada and ongoing threats from the so-called Islamic State.

FBI Director James Comey used his first major policy address to warn that new encryption techniques could lock out law enforcement trying to solve crimes. He wants a back door into smartphones.

ACLU deputy legal director Vanita Gupta will lead the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department. She will likely be nominated for Senate confirmation to hold the job permanently.

NPR has learned Labor Secretary Thomas Perez is a top candidate to be the next attorney general. Three sources familiar with the process say the issue is on the desk of President Obama, who has yet to decide among a relatively short list of options.

White House spokesman Eric Schultz ...

He's argued controversial cases involving same-sex marriage, the secrecy of the U.S. drone campaign, and the legality of the bulk-surveillance programs for American phone records. But he's still far from a household name. Now, though, with his recent promotion to serve as the third in command at the Justice Department, ...

A day after Attorney General Eric Holder announced his resignation, he made a long-planned visit to Scranton, Penn.

That's where he won his first big trial as a young public corruption prosecutor nearly 40 years ago. And he says coming to this federal courthouse now, returning to the site of ...

Between clashes with Congress on Operation Fast and Furious and U.S.-based trials for Sept. 11 suspects, the attorney general advanced civil rights priorities and reached several landmark settlements.

Attorney General Eric Holder announced his resignation on Thursday. He says he will step down as soon as the Senate confirms his successor.

The nation's first black U.S. attorney general had a tumultuous tenure marked by civil rights advances, national security threats, sentencing reforms and battles with congressional Republicans.

Twenty years ago today, former President Bill Clinton signed a massive crime-control bill that funded shelters for battered women and helped train police to investigate attacks. The anniversary of the law falls on a week when violence against women is front and center in the national conversation.

First, the Baltimore ...

In 1994, Congress passed the most significant crime-fighting legislation in a generation. Now, policymakers are dialing back Clinton's tough-on-crime policies.

A federal judge has ruled that British Petroleum is guilty of gross negligence in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion and oil spill. The decision means BP might be fined billions of dollars in penalties for its role.

The Justice Department investigation is likely to last for months and could result in a court-enforceable agreement to improve things like hiring and training of police in the Missouri city.

Updated at 3:20 p.m. ET

Associate Attorney General Tony West, the third in command at the U.S. Justice Department, is preparing to announce he will leave government for a job in the private sector, two sources familiar with the decision tell NPR.

In a statement, the Justice Department ...

The Obama administration is considering whether to broaden its air campaign against the extremist group the Islamic State by striking targets in Syria.

James Tomsheck was pushed out of his job as internal affairs chief for Customs and Border Protection in June. He warns the agency has become a paramilitary organization with little accountability.

The attorney general hugged community leaders, a highway patrol captain and the mother of Michael Brown during his visit, and got an update on the federal investigation into the teen's shooting.

Kelly McEvers talks to former U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford about current U.S. policy in the region, and where it should be headed.

Authorities in the Missouri city are barring protesters and the media from recording their actions, arresting photographers and reporters and insisting that marchers walk instead of stay in one place.