US won't sue newspaper on alleged Hinckley threat

The Justice Department said it has rejected a request to prosecute the National Enquirer for publishing an alleged death threat by John W. Hinckley Jr. against actress Jodie Foster.

Department officials indicated concern over the First Amendment issues that would arise if the government moved against the newspaper, but a spokesman would elaborate no further on the decision. Miss Foster's lawyers requested prosecution last week on the grounds the poem, entitled ''Bloody Love,'' violated a federal law prohibiting transmission in interstate commerce of a threat to kill or injure.