Republicans claim Thomas Perez struck a quid pro quo deal with Minnesota that may have cost the federal treasury as much as $180 million. Perez says he acted ethically.

As the Supreme Court heard arguments on gay marriage for a second day on Wednesday, five justices showed uneasiness with the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996 and the limits it imposed on federal benefits for gay couples.

The Supreme Court began a two-day legal test of gay marriage laws on Tuesday, and the questions asked by some of the justices suggested they did not think the California ban on same-sex marriage belonged in their court.

How the Supreme Court decides the Defense of Marriage Act could mean changes for how same-sex couples file taxes. But experts say checking off the "married" box on tax forms will be a mixed bag for some gay couples.

President Obama has nominated Thomas Perez to lead the Labor Department. Perez currently heads the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department, which was recently the subject of a harsh internal review.

President Obama announced his choice to be Labor secretary on Monday. It's Tom Perez, a Justice Department civil rights leader — bringing a high-profile Latino to the Cabinet.

The CIA can no longer credibly argue that it can't even confirm it has such records, the court says.

Next week marks the anniversary of a landmark Supreme Court decision that says defendants facing substantial jail time deserve legal representation in state courts, even if they can't afford it. Now, many lawyers say the system for providing defense attorneys for the poor is in crisis.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit invalidated three appointees, saying Obama overstepped his authority by making "recess appointments."

An inspector general investigation exposed deep fissures within the unit for the past dozen years and gave rise to perceptions of politicized and partial behavior by lawyers there.

The senator launched a nationwide conversation when he challenged the president's pick to lead the CIA. He vowed to keep talking until the White House clarified whether it has authority to kill U.S. citizens on American soil with drones. He finally stood down, but the debate is far from over.

Attorney General Eric Holder went to Capitol Hill today to answer questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee on everything from guns to Wall Street prosecutions, among other topics. One prominent issue transcended partisan divides: senators' demand for more information about the U.S. use of drones in a targeted killing program for terrorists.

The Obama administration warns that the situation looks ugly for the department under the sequester. But for now, the most alarming claims — that prosecutors will drop cases and criminals will walk free — seem to be just that: alarms.

Eleven people were killed and one of the largest environmental disasters in history happened after an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded in 2010.

A new report says that while girls still lag far behind boys in the juvenile courts, the justice system is failing to take into account their physical and emotional needs. Most girls are locked up for crimes such as running away, school absences or even violating curfew — things that aren't even offenses for adults.

Republicans Charles Grassley of Iowa and Darrell Issa of California want to know if a whistleblower is being punished while one of the ATF managers involved is being allowed to "double-dip."

In 2011, more than 95,000 young people were locked up in jails and prisons for adults. Thousands spent time in solitary confinement.

Rather than faulting Attorney General Eric Holder, the inspector general's report on the botched gun-trafficking operation places some blame on his chief of staff and a deputy.

The plan was for Hinckley to leave a mental institution for his mother's home. But a key part of his treatment plan is up in the air.

Drone strikes ordered by the Obama administration have killed more than a dozen al-Qaida leaders around the world. But when the ACLU asked for more information about the targeted killing, the CIA said it's a secret. Now the case is headed to federal appeals court.