The issue focused on law enforcement using federal civil rights laws to silence political opponents. It was not at all clear that Obama's Justice Department had legal authority to prohibit criminal prosecution of illegal financial interests.

In fact, according to court documents and interviews with lawyers for prosecutors, federal officials were generally confident in the attorney general's ability to prosecute against anyone who showed up to court to testify. In some cases, federal officials even believed they could quickly cut off sources of money from legitimate businesses in order to try to bring