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In an interview, Eric Holder says he's open to talking with Edward Snowden about terms of surrender. The attorney general is unhappy with the vote to block a nominee to a top Justice Department post.

The clash over attorney Debo Adegbile's Justice Dept. nomination pitted powerful law enforcement interests against the civil rights community.

Longtime followers of the pardon power have criticized President Obama's relatively stingy approach over five years in office. An advocate for ending mandatory minimum sentences says she's "really encouraged" by the new push for clemency.

Virginia Seitz, who led the influential Justice Department office that offers legal advice on surveillance, drones and other issues, resigned after 2 1/2 years on the job.

Former prisoners spoke about the effects of solitary confinement Tuesday in a congressional hearing aimed at banning it for some inmates. Solitary confinement is also extremely expensive, critics say.

An inspector general investigation exposed deep fissures within the unit for the past dozen years and gave rise to perceptions of politicized and partial behavior by lawyers there.

A Justice Department study says some inmates who were approved for the early release program died before Washington bureaucrats signed off on it.

The Obama administration warns that the situation looks ugly for the department under the sequester. But for now, the most alarming claims — that prosecutors will drop cases and criminals will walk free — seem to be just that: alarms.

"I see the government operating the way the founders intended," says FBI Director Jim Comey, who notes that branches of the U.S. government approved the bulk collection of U.S. phone records.

He's voted to allow guns in national parks and Amtrak trains, but Sen. Patrick Leahy rejects suggestions that he'll slow-walk gun control efforts through Congress. Leahy chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, which begins hearings on the issue at the end of this month.