Carrie Johnson
Carrie Johnson is a justice correspondent for the Washington Desk.
She covers a wide variety of stories about justice issues, law enforcement, and legal affairs for NPR's flagship programs Morning Edition and All Things Considered, as well as the newscasts and NPR.org.
Johnson has chronicled major challenges to the landmark voting rights law, a botched law enforcement operation targeting gun traffickers along the Southwest border, and the Obama administration's deadly drone program for suspected terrorists overseas.
Prior to coming to NPR in 2010, Johnson worked at the Washington Post for 10 years, where she closely observed the FBI, the Justice Department, and criminal trials of the former leaders of Enron, HealthSouth, and Tyco. Earlier in her career, she wrote about courts for the weekly publication Legal Times.
Her work has been honored with awards from the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, the Society for Professional Journalists, SABEW, and the National Juvenile Defender Center. She has been a finalist for the Loeb Award for financial journalism and for the Pulitzer Prize in breaking news for team coverage of the massacre at Fort Hood, Texas.
Johnson is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Benedictine University in Illinois.
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Lawmakers have been critical of how the FBI mishandled the investigation of Larry Nassar. Several prominent gymnasts abused by Nassar are testifying about the case to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
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The ACLU and federal public defenders are warning a private prison company may be trying to avoid President Biden's executive order that bans new contracts with most for-profit detention facilities.
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The Justice Department is suing Texas over its strict abortion ban, saying it conflicts with decades of Supreme Court precedent.
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Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Texas law clashes with Supreme Court precedent and could be a model for how states could put other constitutional rights in jeopardy. -
FBI data show a 6% increase in the number of hate crimes in 2020. But that doesn't tell the full story, as state and local jurisdictions don't have to report those offenses to the federal government.
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Relatively few people in federal prison have been approved for compassionate release during the pandemic. Lawmakers are trying to make that option a reality for more sick and elderly people. -
The Justice Department is considering whether the federal officials who spoke at a Trump rally ahead of the insurrection were acting within the scope of their jobs that day. -
In his first trip as Attorney General, Merrick Garland headed home to Chicago to launch a new gun strike force. He met with police and community leaders.
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Tom Barrack, longtime friend of former President Donald Trump and chair of his inaugural committee, was arrested Tuesday on charges he acted as an agent of the government of the United Arab Emirates.
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Thomas Barrack, who chaired the former president's inauguration committee, has been arrested on federal charges that he acted as an agent of a foreign government. -
Some legal experts argue that the profession needs to engage in deep soul-searching after serious abuses of ethics rules by attorneys in the Trump years. -
A new report by a DOJ watchdog finds the FBI mishandled sexual assault allegations involving Larry Nassar, the longtime USA Gymnastics doctor who was accused of abuse by dozens and women and girls.
