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Federal Court Refuses To Block N.C. Voter ID Law

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Photo Credit: TownHall

Photo Credit: TownHall

At Netroots Nation, liberals slammed voter ID laws, labeling them something akin to “Jim Crow” laws. Yesterday, the U.S. District Court For The Middle District Of North Carolina refused to block the state’s voter ID law, which will be enforced in the upcoming midterm elections.

Here’s what the Court said in their opinion:

After careful consideration, the court concludes that Defendants’ motion for judgment on the pleadings should be denied in its entirety. Plaintiffs’ complaints state plausible claims upon which relief can be granted and should be permitted to proceed in the litigation. However, a preliminary injunction is an extraordinary remedy to be granted in this circuit only upon a “clear showing” of entitlement.

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Eric Holder: Obama Hasn't Overreached with Executive Actions

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Attorney General Eric Holder believes President Barack Obama has shown restraint in his use of executive actions.

In an interview with Time, Holder, who previously could not explain whether the Constitution enabled some of Obama’s bolder executive actions, claimed Obama has “appropriately used executive authority as other presidents have.”

“He’s used executive action around 180 times, something like that. I was looking the other day just at a list of presidents, and Teddy Roosevelt issued about 1,000 executive orders,” he said. “So in terms of magnitude this president has not used this authority nearly as much as his critics would say.”

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Court Releases 'Fast and Furious' Info Withheld by Obama

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Photo Credit: WND

Photo Credit: WND

A federal court has ruled that the Obama Department of Justice must turn over to the non-profit watchdog group Judicial Watch an index of materials related to the “Fast and Furious” gun-running scandal that were withheld by the White House under executive privilege claims.

Judicial Watch sued because the government didn’t respond to its Freedom of Information Act requests in June and September of 2012.

The ruling by Judge John D. Bates of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia forces the Obama DOJ, for the first time, to provide a Vaughn Index, a detailed listing of all documents that it has withheld from Congress about the scandal along with justification for each withholding.

“Once again, Judicial Watch has beat Congress to the punch in getting key information about another Obama scandal – this time, the Fast and Furious outrage,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.

Fitton said the information could, for the first time, provide specific details about “who in the administration is responsible for Fast and Furious lies to Congress and the American people.”

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Impeach Holder if He Won’t Appoint IRS Special Prosecutor

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Photo Credit: YouTubeAttorney General Eric Holder should be impeached if he refuses to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the IRS tea party-targeting scandal, Sen. Ted Cruz demanded Thursday.

The Texas Republican, who has sounded the call for a special prosecutor in the scandal before, made his case for possible impeachment on the Senate floor, ripping into Holder for not standing up to President Barack Obama.

“It saddens me to say that the U.S. Department of Justice under Attorney General Eric Holder has become the most partisan Department of Justice in the history of our country,” Cruz said, blasting its lead investigator on the IRS issue, Barbara Bosserman, as a “partisan” donor who gave over $6,000 to the president’s two election campaigns. He also noted IRS Commissioner John Koskinen has contributed over $100,000 to Democrats.

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Holder Impeachment Sought by Ringleader of Resignation Push

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Photo Credit: US NewsEric Holder made history in 2009 as the first African-American U.S. attorney general. If Rep. Paul Gosar has his way, Holder can add another first to his bio: the first sitting cabinet secretary to be impeached.

Gosar, R-Ariz., tells U.S. News he plans to either draft articles of impeachment or co-sponsor existing impeachment legislation introduced in November by Rep. Pete Olson, R-Texas, which has 26 co-sponsors. He anticipates deciding between the two options next week.

Gosar is upset about a slew of issues, ranging from the Obama administration admittedly ignoring a law that requires congressional notification before Guantánamo Bay detainees are transferred, to Holder’s Department of Justice failing to prosecute IRS employees who targeted political groups.

“We’ve seen a wanton disrespect for the rule of law,” he says. “Very, very poor legal counsel is being given to the president by the attorney general.”

What pushed Gosar over the edge is something he calls “illegal alien smuggling.” He says Holder has failed to stop the Department of Homeland Security from releasing in Arizona people detained in Texas for residing in the U.S. without legal permission.

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Eric Holder: No Plans at DOJ to Investigate Secret Waiting Lists and Veteran Deaths at VA Hospitals

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Photo Credit: Weekly Standard

Photo Credit: Weekly Standard

Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday that the Department of Justice doesn’t have any plans to investigate allegations that veterans placed on secret waiting lists at VA hospitals died while waiting for care.

“Well, obviously these reports if they’re true are unacceptable, and the allegations are being taken very seriously by the administration. But I don’t have any announcements at this time with regard to anything that the Justice Department is doing,” Holder told reporters at a press conference.

“This is something on our radar screen at this point, but there is an investigation being done by the [VA] inspector general, and we’ll see what happens as a result of that inquiry and other information that comes to light in some form or fashion,” Holder added.

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House GOP: Obama, Holder Undermining IRS Investigation; Special Counsel Needed

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Photo Credit: REUTERS / Jonathan Ernst

Photo Credit: REUTERS / Jonathan Ernst

House Republicans Friday introduced a resolution calling on Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint a special counsel to investigate the IRS targeting scandal, blasting Holder for purposely failing to seriously investigate the agency.

Bob Goodlatte, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, accused President Obama and his administration of having “publicly undermined the investigation on multiple occasions.”

“The Attorney General says he won’t share any information with Congress about the investigation, but looked the other way when information was leaked to the media signaling that no one would face criminal charges,” said Rep. Jim Jordan, who introduced the resolution. “This resolution calls for a real investigation by an unbiased investigator to get to the truth and hold those responsible for this illegal targeting accountable for their actions.”

The resolution has six cosponsors including House Oversight chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, House Judiciary Committee chairman Rep. Bob Goodlatte, and House Ways and Means chairman Rep. Dave Camp, South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy, Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz, and Louisiana Rep. Charles Boustany.

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Disappointing: Holder to Remain U.S. Attorney General Through November Elections At Least

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Photo Credit: REUTERS / Jonathan Ernst

Photo Credit: REUTERS / Jonathan Ernst

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder plans to stay on through November’s mid-term elections and has no timeline for an exit after that, a Justice Department official told Reuters on Friday.

“The Attorney General does not plan to leave before the mid-terms. That does not mean that he is definitely leaving after the mid-terms, just that he is at least staying through that time,” the official said.

There has been speculation over when Holder, 63, might step down from the post he has held since shortly after President Barack Obama took office in 2009…

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GOP Writes Legislation to Deny Eric Holder his Salary (+video)

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Photo Credit: AFP PHOTO/Brendan SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty

Photo Credit: AFP PHOTO/Brendan SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty

A Republican congressman has introduced a bill that would stop government paychecks for officials who have been found in contempt of Congress — a move that seems designed in the short term to go after Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.

Mr. Holder has refused to cooperate with House Republicans’ probe into the Fast & Furious gun-walking operation, and the House has voted to find him in contempt. Mr. Holder is challenging that vote in court.

Rep. Blake Farenthold, a Texas Republican who publicly excoriated Mr. Holder at a hearing last week, introduced the legislation just before Congress went on vacation, and announced it Tuesday.

“The American people should not be footing the bill for federal employees who stonewall Congress or rewarding government officials’ bad behavior,” Mr. Farenthold said.

Mr. Holder appeared before the House Judiciary Committee last week and faced harsh barbs over his defense of Obama administration policies. He bristled at having been held in contempt.

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Rep. Louie Gohmert: Holder’s ‘Childish and Lame’ Performance at Hearing Undermines His Credibility On the IRS Scandal

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Photo Credit: REUTERS / Gary Cameron

Photo Credit: REUTERS / Gary Cameron

Republican Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert said that his recent heated exchange with Attorney General Eric Holder exposed Holder as a “partisan and extremely petty” individual and undermined Holder’s ability to defend the Obama administration on the IRS scandal in coming weeks.

“I know what it’s like to be in the heat of a very nasty conversation. I perhaps have been in those kinds of conversations more than our attorney general. And that’s why his comments were so childish and lame,” Gohmert told The Daily Caller in a conference call Tuesday night.

“You don’t want to go there, buddy! You don’t want to go there okay,” Holder snapped at Gohmert at a Judiciary Committee oversight hearing last week after Gohmert mentioned Holder’s 2012 contempt of Congress charge over the Fast and Furious scandal. Holder then spoke last week at Al Sharpton’s National Action Network conference, telling a black audience, “it had nothing to do with me. Forget that. What attorney general has ever had to deal with that kind of treatment?”

“John Mitchell got treated much much worse than Eric Holder and he deserved it. He was even sent to prison and he still didn’t whine as much as this attorney general did and he didn’t go around calling people ‘buddy,’” said Gohmert.

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