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Thursday the current attorney general praised his predecessor Michael Mukasey, pictured.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - At a rare Justice Department event featuring a mix of smiling Democratic and Republican luminaries, Attorney General Eric Holder Thursday praised his GOP predecessor Michael Mukasey for "skill, honor, and great integrity" during his 15-month tenure.

Without mentioning the acrimony and bitter political battles that peaked during during two tumultuous years under then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who preceded Mukasey, Holder credited Mukasey for agreeing to take the job when "the Justice Department was engulfed in turmoil."

"I can say we are continuing the work you started to restore the Justice Department. You leave a mark here of patriotism, integrity and honor," Holder concluded.

Holder hosted the event at the ornate Great Hall to honor Mukasey with the traditional unveiling of the former attorney general's commissioned portrait, which will hang among the 81 past attorneys general outside Holder's office.
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WASHINGTON (CNN) - A Justice Department unit has opened an internal inquiry into how government lawyers handled a controversial case of alleged voter intimidation by members of the New Black Panther Party on Election Day, sources told CNN.

The department did not announce the inquiry. The sources, who asked not to be identified, said the decision does not signal a formal investigation, but reflects responsiveness to lingering concerns.

The Obama Justice Department said in May it was dropping its complaint against three men in Philadelphia who identified themselves as belonging to the New Black Panther Party for Self Defense.

The complaint against the men, filed in January, alleged that on November 4, during the general election, Samir Shabazz and Jerry Jackson were stationed at the entrance to a Philadelphia polling place wearing the uniform of their organization. The complaint, filed in federal court, said Shabazz brandished a "police style baton weapon."
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The Central Intelligence Agency is under fire for harsh interrogation techniques used after 9/11.

Gloria Borger is a senior political analyst for CNN, appearing regularly on CNN's "The Situation Room," "Campbell Brown," "AC360°" and "State of the Union With John King," as well as special event coverage.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - No matter which way you look at it, the question is painfully difficult: What - if anything - do we do about the post 9/11 behavior of some CIA agents who worked feverishly to interrogate prisoners they believed had information that could save American lives?

First, we now know definitively what we always suspected - that agent actions were sometimes abusive, perhaps even illegal, as they tried to obtain information.

The just-released Justice Department report shows, among other things, that agents choked one detainee repeatedly and threatened to kill another prisoner's children. Not pretty stuff.

But here's what we also know, thanks to another report (purposefully) released by the CIA as a response to the Justice document: Some interrogations worked.

According to these agency reports, chronicling 2004 and 2005, the intelligence community gleaned valuable information in real-time - like tracking down a terrorist network and securing key information from the notorious Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the 9/11 mastermind.

The CIA's message is clear: Whatever we did helped us get what we needed to save lives. So get off our backs and let us do our jobs.

But here's the catch, and it's what complicates all of this: The CIA report does not draw a straight line between any specific interrogation methods and success. Indeed, the report says the "effectiveness" of any particular interrogation technique in gaining star-quality information "cannot be so easily measured."

That is an understatement.

So it's easy to see why the president, who doesn't need another political headache, was happy to toss the hot potato over to Attorney General Eric Holder for review. Holder is independent, the president reminded us. He is supposed to make decisions about whether to prosecute criminal cases without the president. That notion could provide a smidgeon of political cover, but it looks like it won't be enough.

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The White House has issued the following statement Monday:

Statement from the Press Secretary on the Department of Justice Inquiry

The President has said repeatedly that he wants to look forward, not back, and the President agrees with the Attorney General that those who acted in good faith and within the scope of legal guidance should not be prosecuted. Ultimately, determinations about whether someone broke the law are made independently by the Attorney General.

Related: Top prosecutor orders probe into interrogations

WASHINGTON (CNN) - A federal judge Monday granted the government's request to dismiss all charges against two former pro-Israel lobbyists who had been accused of providing U.S. military secrets to Israel.

U.S. District Judge T. S. Ellis dismissed the charges against Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman after Justice Department prosecutors Friday announced their case had fallen apart, and asked the court to drop the charges.

Prosecutors said the decision was forced by adverse appeals court rulings that would have required disclosing military secrets in court and would have required a higher burden of proof to win a conviction.

Defense attorneys said the defendants were innocent of the charges and insisted the case should never have been brought in the first place.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Federal prosecutors have asked that espionage charges be dropped against two former pro-Israel lobbyists.

The acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Dana Boente, said he filed a motion to dismiss the charges against Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman because of a court ruling that would have allowed the defense to use more classified information at trial than the government had wanted.

"When this indictment was brought, the government believed it could prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt," Boente said in a written statement. "Given the diminished likelihood the government will prevail at trial under the additional intent requirements imposed by the court and the inevitable disclosure of classified information that would occur at any trial in this matter, we have asked the court to dismiss the indictment."

Rosen and Weissman, former lobbyists for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, had been accused of receiving classified material and passing it on to Israeli officials.

Some groups want Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the issue.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday that he would "follow the law" as he weighed potential prosecutions of Bush administration officials who authorized controversial harsh interrogation techniques.

In Holder's first public comments on the issue since President Obama's statements on the matter Tuesday, the attorney general responded to questions briefly and cautiously.

"We are going to follow the evidence, follow the law and take that where it leads. No one is above the law," Holder said at an Earth Day event.

Some human rights groups have demanded that Holder appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the matter, but the attorney general appears to be in no hurry to decide how to proceed.

Obama said Tuesday that the attorney general would ultimately decide whether to proceed with prosecutions of those in the Bush administration who drew up the legal basis for aggressive interrogation techniques.

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Attorney General Eric Holder helped honor Janet Reno, his former boss, Friday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Eight years and three months after then-Attorney General Janet Reno hugged her Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder goodbye, now Attorney General Holder warmly embraced his former boss at ceremonies honoring Reno's career achievements.

With dozens of former Clinton administration officials and a sprinkling of career Justice Department veterans looking on, Holder heaped high praise on Reno for her famous tenacity and tireless work schedule during an often controversial eight-year tenure.

"Janet is both tough and tender," Holder told an audience at which the American Judicature Society presented Reno its annual "Justice Award."

"I don't know how many times she said to me, "What's the right thing to do'," Holder said. "It was never what's the easy thing, what's the political thing, or the expedient thing to do," he said

Holder drew knowing laughter as he recalled her alternate roles as demanding taskmaster to senior officials, while displaying great kindness to children and patience with lower-level employees and their families.
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WASHINGTON (CNN) – One day after the Justice Department filed suit against the state of New York over the counting of military absentee ballots in next week's special election, it announced an agreement with state officials that would extend the deadline for those voters to mid-April.

The department's lawsuit against the state and Gov. David Paterson, filed in federal district court yesterday, charged that nine of the 10 counties in New York's 20th congressional district had not given military voters enough time to fill out their ballots and return them before the deadline. The original deadline - seven days after the election - will be extended by another six days if the agreement is approved in federal court.

The new deadline of April 13 would bring the state into compliance with federal law that requires each military voter be given at least 30 days to fill out their ballot.