“Why is the U.S. government trying to obtain billions of dollars in damages from Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services for allegedly slipshod work on mortgage-linked securities, but nothing from rival Moody’s Investors Service?

“The Justice Department won’t say, but that is one of the biggest questions swirling around the two-month-old lawsuit against the McGraw-Hill Cos. unit.

“The two rating firms assigned similar grades to a mountain of mortgage-linked securities that collapsed during the financial crisis. Both companies have been blamed by lawmakers and investors for deepening the crisis. And the Moody’s Corp. unit is under investigation by the Justice Department, said people familiar with the probe.”

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