The Department of Justice recently weighed in on a couple of peer-to-peer file-sharing cases, saying it supported damages ranging from $750 to $150,000 in such cases.

In the brief filed Sunday, DoJ attorney Michelle Bennett wrote:

“The remedy of statutory damages for copyright infringement has been a cornerstone of our federal copyright law since 1790, and Congress acted reasonably in crafting the current incarnation of the statutory damages provision.”

The DoJ filed the brief to support the constitutionality of current copyright laws.

Wired’s “Threat Level” blog says the brief should surprise no one since two top attorneys at the DoJ are former RIAA lawyers. Donald Verrilli Jr. is the associate deputy attorney general who went after Grokster.

Verrilli also argued against a retrial for Jammie Thomas, the Minnesota woman who became the only person sued by the RIAA for P2P infringement to make it through a complete trial. In 2007 a jury found Thomas guilty and awarded the major labels $222,000 in damages. The judge in Thomas’ trial has since ordered a retrial, saying the theory of “making available” copyrighted works for downloading might not actually constitute infringement.

Tom Perrilli, the No. 2 man at Justice, once argued that Internet service providers should release customer information whenever the RIAA asks for it, even if the trade organization does not produce a subpoena with its request.

Yes, that’s right. Verrilli and Perrilli. At the DoJ. You really can’t make this stuff up.

Under normal circumstances, a letter from the Department of Justice to a courtroom probably wouldn’t stir up a fuss, if only because the DoJ often comments on cases where constitutional issues might be argued. However, the RIAA’s strategy of suing users for offering copyrighted material via P2P networks has been slammed by more technology blogs than those supporting it, and the Department of Justice’s brief supporting high fines for copyright infringements was no exception.

“DoJ supports RIAA in Sony v. Tenenbaum three-ring circus,” was the headline on Ars Technica on March 23, while P2P Net ran with “Obama / Biden: tools of the RIAA?” and TwentyFourBit posted coverage titled “Obama Justice Department in the Bag for RIAA?”

The two trials DoJ filed the brief for – Capitol Records v. Noor Alaujun and Sony BMG Music Entertainment v. Joel Tenenbaum – represent the last batch of the P2P lawsuits. The RIAA is replacing its strategy of suing individual users with one that calls for greater P2P participation in blocking suspected music pirates. However, the trade organization may be tempted to rethink that decision now that it has the DoJ standing in its corner.

For a PDF of the actual brief, click here.

Click here for Wired’s account.

Click here for Ars Technica’s article.

Click here for P2P Net’s coverage.