The race to replace 35th District Delegate and Democratic Attorney General candidate Steve Shannon is within a 2-point margin – or at least it was two weeks ago, according to polls conducted for Republican candidate Jim Hyland.

Hyland’s margin, described by his campaign manager Kevin Conroy as “within the margin of error,” reflects a tightening of the race since a July benchmark poll, when pollsters Barry Zeplowitz and Bill Lee of TelOpinion Research indicated in a confidential memo posted on Hyland’s website that Hyland held a 7-point lead 43 percent to 36 percent lead, with 21 percent undecided. The memo did not indicate the size of the sample or whether “likely voter” filters were used.

Read more at Collins on Politics

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder refers to a National Survey on Children’s Exposure to Violence conducted by his office as a “wake-up call.” The study concluded that 60 percent of children nationwide had been exposed to some form of violence within the past year. The study also found that almost half of those questioned were assaulted, 1 in every 10 suffered abuse or neglect and in 1 in every 16th was victimized sexually. (0:35)

 

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Attorney General Eric Holder says that both he and President Barack Obama support the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009, which will extend federal protection against crimes based on sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, and disability. (0:33)

 

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By Jonathan Bronstein, Talk Radio News Service

Shortly after the September 11 terrorist attacks, the U.S. government allowed law enforcement officials to arrest people of “high interest” according to race, religion, or national origin, according to Javaid Iqbal, a Pakistani citizen who was placed in a maximum-security prison in early 2002.

Iqbal claimed that the government’s decision violated his civil rights and he sued former U.S. Attorney General John Aschcroft and Robert Mueller, then-Director of the FBI.

Today, the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision written by Justice Kennedy, ruled against Iqbal.

Kennedy wrote that Iqbal’s initial filings did not provide enough information to automatically find Ashcroft and Mueller responsible for the abuses he suffered while being held.

The case will now return to the lower courts, where Iqbal may have a chance to substantiate his claim that he was subjected to harsh conditions on account of his religion and nationality, and that Ashcroft and Mueller were the “principle architects” of this plan.

Four Justices dissented, and in an opinion written by Justice Souter agreed with the lower courts’ findings that Ashcroft and Mueller did violate his civil rights and could therefore be held responsible.

By Courtney Ann Jackson-Talk Radio News Service

Attorney General Eric Holder tells the crowd, including the survivors of the fallen officers, at the National Peace Officers’ Memorial Service, what he has learned from this year’s Police Week. (0:50)

 

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By Courtney Ann Jackson-Talk Radio News Service

A unified approach to closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay will be crucial in order to meet the one-year deadline signed into law in January by President Obama, according to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who testified before the House Judiciary Committee Thursday.

Holder said the Department has “no choice but to release” some of the detainees. He said they must be released because otherwise an order from the In terms of release, we have to release them or an order from the U.S. courts would be defied.

The Department of Justice is taking the lead from the work set out by President Barack Obama to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay and ensure that the policies going forward “live up to our nation’s value,” said Holder.

The Guantanamo Review Task Force will make decisions about where detainees will be housed on an individual basis. Holder said that Task Force’s decisions will be guided by “what is in the interest of national security, the foreign policy interests of the United States and the interests of justice.”

Ranking Member U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) said “the President has announced the closure of Guantanamo Bay without any plan for the terrorists detained there and has admitted that he cannot guarantee that those detainees who are released will not seek to attack our country again.”

In response, Holder reiterated that the Department isn’t going “to do anything, anything that would put the American people at risk. Nothing.”

By Courtney Ann Jackson-Talk Radio News Service

Attorney General Eric Holder discusses the changes being made to the Department of Justice. The top priority remains to be the safety of the American public but the Department is currently pursuing a very specific set of goals.(0:51)

 

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Attorney General Eric Holder explains how he believes that the composition of the Supreme Court should reflect the rest of society. This means that their should be more minorities represented on the court. (0:25)

 

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Eric Holder, the Attorney General, discusses how the federal government will not tolerate any discrimination towards individuals taking out loans and will work hard to stamp out fraudulent loan modifying companies. If either behavior is identified then the government will “find you, and will punish you.” (0:37)

 

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Coffee Brown, University of New Mexico, for Talk Radio News Service

We’ve come a long way from Dred Scott by appointing Eric Holder Attorney General, says Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) at Georgetown University.

 

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