department of justice

January 23, 2013 - The North Carolina-based banking giant, including two companies acquired in 2008, has done so much harm in the mortgage and mortgage-backed securities markets that banishment would be the appropriate punishment -- yet it is taking a new run at the U.S. mortgage business.

January 14, 2013 - The company is seeking to reduce its civil liabilities under the Clean Water Act by excluding the oil it salvaged from the total amount spilled in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. Meanwhile, the court has approved a settlement for medical claims related to the spilled oil and dispersants used to break up the slick.

January 4, 2013 - A look at the government's response as the foreclosure crisis enters its seventh year.

January 4, 2013 - Most of the $1.4 billion in fines and penalties that Transocean has agreed to pay for its negligence in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster will be sent to the Gulf Coast region to fund environmental restoration work.

December 11, 2012 - In addition to hearing challenges to laws banning same-sex marriage, the Supreme Court will consider the constitutionality of a key part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, landmark civil rights legislation that's been increasingly under attack.

December 5, 2012 - U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms died in 2008 without ever disavowing his support for racial segregation, which is why some are protesting a bill to name a post office after him in his hometown of Raleigh, N.C. But there's something apropos about the proposal, as Helms pioneered the use of the postal service to promote his divisive politics.

November 29, 2012 - The government's decision to at least temporarily ban BP from federal contracts is a result of not just the Deepwater Horizon explosion and spill, but years of safety problems at the oil giant.