Justice

A knowledgeable law enforcement official says it is unlikely that the Justice Department will retry John Edwards. (May 31)

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick ended up defending Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Thursday during TV appearances in which the Democratic politician was supposed to be serving as a surrogate for President Barack Obama. Patrick, who has a history of ethically questionable connections to financial firms, applauded Boston-based Bain Capital, implicitly criticizing the Obama campaign's attacks on Romney's record at the private equity firm.Patrick is the second Obama surrogate with strong ties to the financial industry to defend Bain, following in the footsteps of Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker, who ignited a week of outrage from Democratic Party strategists for describing the Obama campaign's slams against Romney's Bain work as 'nauseating.'Patrick, who followed Romney as governor of the Bay State, praised Bain in two separate TV appearances on Thursday. 'I've got a lot of friends there,' he said on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe,' calling Bain 'a perfectly fine company' with 'a role to play in the private economy.''I think the Bain strategy has been distorted in some of the public discussions,' said Patrick. 'I think the issue isn't about Bain. I think it's about whether [Romney has] accomplished, in either his public or private life, the kinds of things he wants to accomplish for the United States.'The governor reiterated his position on CNN's 'Starting Point,' declaring, 'It's never been about Bain.'Patrick's close relationship with Ameriquest, once one of the largest subprime lenders in the country, was widely criticized during his first campaign for governor in 2006. As head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division in the 1990s, he had settled a discriminatory lending complaint against Ameriquest for $4 million -- a relatively small amount for the lender. Patrick later landed on Ameriquest's boa

TRENTON, N.J. -- New Jersey Democrats have rejected Gov. Chris Christie's nomination of a gay black Republican mayor to the state Supreme Court.Morris County Mayor Bruce Harris was turned down Thursday by a vote of 7 to 6 after a four-hour hearing.It's the same margin by which another Christie nominee, First Assistant Attorney General Phillip Kwon, was voted down two months ago.Democrats who control the Senate Judiciary Committee questioned Harris' lack of courtroom experience and vow to recuse himself from deciding gay marriage cases.Harris says his prior support of gay marriage creates a perception that he would be biased on the issue.The 61-year-old would have been the state's third black justice and the court's first openly gay jurist.The seven-member Supreme Court is all-white with two vacancies.Also on HuffPost:

What NOW?!: The NOW w/ Alex Wagner panelists discuss how former Supreme Court Justice and recent recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, John Paul Stevens, is sharing his second thoughts on the court's decision on Citizen United.

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Interview with Mary J. Blige, who plays Justice in Rock of Ages. 1. On Adam Shankman. 2. On her rehearsal. 3. On the music.

Rachel Maddow reports the breaking news that the Department of Justice has sent a letter to the state of Florida demanding that they stop purging voters because they did not get the approval required by the Voting Rights Act and they may be in violation of the National Voter Registration Act.

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The Department of Justice demanded that Florida stop purging its voter rolls, Talking Points Memo reported Thursday.In a letter sent to Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner, the Justice Department ordered the state to end the practice because it has not been approved under the Voting Rights Act. Additionally, the DOJ said the purge violated the National Voter Registration Act, which requires states to complete changes to their registration rolls 90 days in advance of an election. Since Florida's primary is on August 14, all maintenance should have been completed by May 16.In recent weeks, the state has identified as many as 180,000 potential noncitizens that will be vetted and possibly removed from voter registration rolls. The practice sparked controversy when a Miami Herald analysis revealed that Hispanic, Democratic and Independent voters are more likely to be on the list. In fact, 58 percent of those identified as potential noncitizens are Hispanic, according to the Herald's review.Florida Democrats pushed back on the practice earlier this week, calling on Gov. Rick Scott to end the purge.'Given that this process fails to meet basic standards of accountability, and that the legal authority for automatic removal of registered voters is currently being challenged in both state and federal court, it is irresponsible to proceed so quickly and with so little room for oversight,' the letter said.CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Florida's primary would be held on August 16.Also on HuffPost:

WASHINGTON A knowledgeable law enforcement official said Thursday it is unlikely that the Justice Department will retry John Edwards.The official made the comment after the campaign finance fraud case ended in a mistrial.The official spoke on condition of anonymity about an issue that will undergo much review inside the government in the coming days.The case ended with the jury unable to decide whether Edwards used money from two wealthy campaign donors to hide his pregnant mistress while he ran for president and his wife was dying of cancer.The case was considered by some legal experts as difficult to prosecute, revolving as it did around the arcane world of campaign finance law. Edwards' attorneys said prosecutors didn't prove that Edwards knew that taking the money violated campaign finance law.Jurors acquitted Edwards on one charge and deadlocked on the other five.Also on HuffPost: