Carrie Johnson

The unexpected death of Justice Antonin Scalia and the looming face-off between the White House and the Senate over his replacement have revived proposals that would limit the tenure of U.S. Supreme Court justices.

Legal scholars from both political parties renewed a call Tuesday to reconsider how much time justices ...

The Supreme Court has been closely divided, 5-4, on major social issues for years. With Justice Scalia's death, the White House has a chance to shift the balance of power with a Democratic appointee.

NPR's Carrie Johnson and Ron Elving talk to host Michel Martin about the political battle developing over the replacement of the late Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia.

Justice Antonin Scalia loved a good fight.

So it's only fitting that news of his death at age 79 ignited an immediate and partisan battle over who might take his place on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kent., said the vacancy should not be filled until ...

The director of the federal government team that interrogates key terrorism suspects has a message for people who want to see a return to waterboarding and other abusive strategies: They don't work.

Frazier Thompson, who leads the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group, said research demonstrates that "rapport-based techniques elicit the most ...

The federal civil rights lawsuit comes after the Ferguson city council adjusted terms of a negotiated settlement meant to bring the police force, jail and local court system in line.

A federal judge has ordered the Justice Department to file court briefs by Wednesday explaining why some portion of the remaining Hillary Clinton emails, subject to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by Vice News, cannot be produced by Feb. 18.

U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras said after a 30-minute ...

The decision by Hillary Clinton to use a private email server as secretary of state has spawned an FBI investigation, multiple congressional inquiries and dozens of private lawsuits that demand copies of her messages. It's also become an issue in her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Republicans on the ...

Veteran Philadelphia prosecutor Robert Zauzmer is heading up a key priority in the final year of Obama's presidency. He tells NPR he has seen too many unfair sentences levied for low-level offenders.

The State Department will not release 37 pages of Clinton emails because they are top secret. The latest turn in the controversy of her private email server comes days before the Iowa caucuses.

New revelations over the documents on her controversial private server — which were not marked classified at the time they were sent — come just days ahead of the Iowa caucuses.

A bipartisan task force created by Congress issued an urgent call to reform the federal prison system on Tuesday.

A bipartisan task force created by Congress issued "an urgent call to action" Tuesday to overhaul the nation's federal prisons and reduce the number of U.S. inmates by 60,000 over the next decade.

A new report from the Charles Colson Task Force on Federal Corrections found that punitive ...

Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Wednesday defended President Obama's recent executive actions intended to expand background checks for gun buyers. But Republicans question their use...

For months, FBI Director James Comey has been warning about a troubling spike in homicides in some of America's biggest cities.

On Tuesday, the bureau released preliminary crime statistics that back up some of his concerns. The FBI reported that violent crime rose in the first six months of 2015, ...

There's not much the White House and the Republican-led Congress can agree on this year. President Obama singled out one issue in his State of the Union address: an overhaul for the justice system.

The extradition of Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán to the United States could take years. NPR explores why the U.S. wants him and what is known about his time as a fugitive.

Some who have been advocating to reduce prison terms for nonviolent drug criminals privately tell NPR they are beginning to worry nothing will happen in 2016.

The Commonwealth Court in Pennsylvania unanimously ruled Wednesday that a state law that prevents convicted criminals from getting full-time jobs in nursing homes or long-term-care facilities is unconstitutional.

By a 7-0 vote, the court found the law violates the due process rights of otherwise law-abiding people who may have run ...

A new report details the number of law enforcement officers killed nationwide this year in the line of duty. Traffic-related deaths have been the number one cause in 15 of the last of 20 years.