Also known as: Departments of Justice · DOJ · U.S. DOJ · Justice Department
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
The federal executive department responsible for federal law enforcement and related programs and services. The Attorney General heads the department, which maintains separate divisions to prosecute violations of antitrust, tax, environmental, and criminal laws and to conduct civil litigation on behalf of the United States.
State legislators drew new congressional districts to create additional majority-minority seats after receiving a letter from the Department of Justice urging that result. Delilah Duran, a registered voter in one affected district, sued state officials claiming that race had predominated over traditional districting criteria. The court applied strict scrutiny and invalidated the plan because the Department of Justice policy alone supplied no compelling interest.
Diego Duarte was arrested on federal charges and questioned at length by Department of Justice agents in a police station. The agents never informed him of his right to remain silent or to have counsel present. When the government later sought to introduce his statements at trial, the court suppressed them because the agents had failed to provide the required warnings before custodial questioning.
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Doris Duffy lived with her two grandsons in a single-family home located in a city whose zoning code limited occupancy to nuclear families. City inspectors, acting on a complaint, issued a violation notice and threatened fines. Duffy challenged the ordinance in federal court, arguing that the Department of Justice enforcement of the restriction violated substantive due process protections for extended family living arrangements.
Derek Douglas was arrested after bringing a handgun onto school grounds and charged under a federal statute prohibiting firearms in school zones. The Department of Justice prosecuted the case in federal court. The court dismissed the indictment because Congress lacked authority under the Commerce Clause to regulate purely local, non-economic activity of this kind.
An immigration judge suspended Devon Drake's deportation order. The Department of Justice transmitted the suspension to Congress, which passed a resolution of disapproval. Drake challenged the resolution in court, arguing that the one-house veto mechanism violated separation of powers by allowing Congress to override executive action without bicameral passage and presentment.
Daphne Doyle filed a civil rights complaint against several Department of Justice officials alleging a conspiracy to violate her constitutional rights. The complaint contained only conclusory allegations without supporting factual matter. The court dismissed the action because the pleadings failed to state a plausible claim for relief under the governing standard for federal civil complaints.
Congress established the Department of Justice as an executive department of the United States. The Attorney General serves as its head and directs all litigation in which the United States is a party or interested, except where otherwise authorized by law.
The Department of Justice may not direct state officials to administer or enforce federal regulatory programs. Such commandeering violates the Tenth Amendment by conscripting state employees to carry out federal policy.
A report qualifies when it contains factual findings resulting from a legally authorized investigation. In civil cases the exception applies even though the report contains out-of-court statements, provided the Department acted within its statutory authority.
A name that states or implies the corporation is organized for a purpose other than that permitted by its articles is prohibited. The Department of Justice properly rejects names that evoke official disaster-relief or administrative functions when the articles authorize only private commercial activity.
…in federal criminal trials, the Federal Government all but conceded the basic issue, which had in fact been recently fixed as Department of Justice policy. See Beaney, Right to Counsel 29-30, 36-42 (1955). In Mapp , which imposed the exclusionary rule on the States for Fourth Amendment violations, more than half of the States had…