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By Robin Waterfield
$17.99
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By Robert M. Utley
$30.00
$18
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Supreme Court / Steve Petteway
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The Democrats have been worried about unifying their party, so it’s odd that John McCain would pick this moment to give them another reason to band together. If elected, McCain said Tuesday, he would think of conservative Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito “as the model for my own nominees” to the Supreme Court.
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Flickr / o2ma / ninjapoodle
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The United States of America holds nearly one-quarter of the world’s prisoners. That’s because of an alarmingly high incarceration rate—the highest by far in the world—that strikes some as tough and others as simply barbaric. About one in every 100 adult Americans sits behind bars. Oh, and it’s a racist system, to boot. Take that, China!
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Kelly Branan
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Forty years after his death, Martin Luther King, one of the great prophets of American democracy, has been reduced to little more than a lifeless statue. Yet his courageous call for peace and criticism of his government at a time of war must not be lost to history.
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Washington Post / Karen Ballard
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A recently declassified memo shines the spotlight once again on John “Take Them to the Point of Death” Yoo, a UC Berkeley law professor and once deputy legal counsel in the Justice Department.
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The Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility is investigating memos and opinions rendered by the department that endorsed the practice of waterboarding, which many consider to be torture. The inquiry is unrelated to the FBI’s criminal investigation of the CIA, which destroyed video recordings of the waterboarding of suspects.
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By Amy Goodman — Yuri Kochiyama’s remarkable life took her from a Japanese internment camp in Arkansas to the Audubon Ballroom, where she witnessed the assassination of her friend Malcom X, and on to Oakland, where she continues to struggle for social justice.
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Sayed Parwez Kaambakhsh, a 23-year-old Afghan student, has been sentenced to death for blasphemy because of an article he downloaded from the Internet. The verdict has aroused outrage around the world, and top U.S. and European officials have spoken with the Afghan government. However, some worry that international pressure could back Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the nation’s religious fundamentalists into a corner and therefore ensure that the execution is carried out.
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wikipedia.org
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CIA Director Michael Hayden told lawmakers Thursday that waterboarding is a useful technique but might not be “lawful under current statute.” Hayden said his agency used waterboarding because of “misshaped and misformed” direction from Washington.
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By Marie Cocco — The most revealing indicator of the state of our democracy is not to be found in the snowdrifts of New Hampshire but in the marbled chamber of the U.S. Supreme Court. Soon enough, we will discover whether the court under Chief Justice John Roberts will become a partisan tool in the national Republican drive to place constraints on voting that are targeted at those who tend to support Democrats.
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dw-world.de
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U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy, who in June 2005 ordered the Bush administration to protect “all evidence and information regarding the torture, mistreatment and abuse of detainees” at Guantanamo Bay, has now ordered the administration to explain why it destroyed two videotapes of such treatment just five months later.
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supremecourtus.gov
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The Supreme Court decided on Monday that federal sentencing guidelines, a kind of back seat judging considered by many to be racist, should be treated as “advisory” and not at all mandatory. Justices Alito and Thomas, to no one’s great surprise, were the only dissenters.
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The Justice Department and the CIA inspector general have launched a joint inquiry into the agency’s destruction of video recordings of so-called harsh interrogation techniques. Color us skeptical, since Attorney General Michael Mukasey couldn’t be bothered to take a position on torture—or harsh interrogation techniques, if that’s the term you want to use—during his confirmation.
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theithacajournal.com
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Some 150 students donned hoods and turned their backs in silent protest of former Attorney General John Ashcroft at Cornell University on Thursday. Cornell law student and protest co-planner Michael Siegel told Truthdig the demonstrators were meant to represent “the detainees who were arrested and imprisoned without due process under Ashcroft’s leadership.”
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The Saudi Arabian justice ministry has defended the high court’s decision to lash and imprison a 19-year-old girl and her male friend, both of whom were gang-raped last year. The two are being punished for “illegal mingling” of the sexes and, unofficially, taking their story to the media. The leading Democratic candidates have all signaled their outrage, but the Bush administration has adopted a mind-your-own-business approach.
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Rachel K. Paulose, the youngest U.S. attorney, who came to symbolize the administration’s preference for political loyalty over ability, has been recalled to Washington from her post in Minnesota, where her office reportedly is in turmoil. She once claimed she was politically persecuted because she was a conservative and a Christian.
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nytimes.com
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The FBI, which is still investigating Blackwater’s Sept. 16 killing rampage in Baghdad, has determined that at least 14 of the 17 shootings were unjustified and in violation of deadly-force rules. The Justice Department is looking into whether to press charges, if it even has the authority, which means that Blackwater could very well get away with murder.
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By Marie Cocco — Sheldon Whitehouse, new to the Senate, was searching for what he called a “moment of moral clarity.” Seated alongside the other members of the Senate Judiciary Committee in its crowded hearing room, the Rhode Island Democrat was looking in precisely the wrong place.
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In another of his stirring commentaries, the “Countdown” host suggests that the story of Daniel Levin, who was fired from the Justice Department after he experienced waterboarding and called it torture, reveals that “the presidency of George W. Bush has now devolved into a criminal conspiracy to cover the ass of George W. Bush.”
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Pakistan’s ousted chief justice has called on the masses to “rise up and restore the constitution,” adding, “This is a time for sacrifices.” Iftikhar Chaudhry, who was fired and placed under house arrest when he refused to sign off on President Pervez Musharraf’s declaration of emergency, made the address by telephone. Mysteriously (or not), mobile phone service in Islamabad suffered a breakdown as Chaudhry was making his remarks.
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Fifteen years ago, the “West Memphis Three” were convicted of the torture and murder of three Cub Scouts in Arkansas. New DNA evidence has bolstered the argument, laid out in two HBO documentaries and an upcoming movie, that the three teenagers convicted—one of whom was sentenced to death—were victims themselves of a community more concerned with their taste in music than evidence.
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Original from archives.gov
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By Chris Hedges — A Dallas jury, a week ago, caused a mistrial in the government case against this country’s largest Islamic charity. The action raises a defiant fist on the sinking ship of American democracy.
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By Eugene Robinson — The cliché does not mean much anymore. It’s time to start seeing African-Americans as Americans, period.
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By Marie Cocco — If American politics is “an arena for angry minds,” then Clarence Thomas is in the right business. His new autobiography is filled with the predictable narcissism, but also a rage that raises questions about the merit of the lifetime appointment.
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In 2005, the Justice Department issued two secret opinions on torture that endorsed and protected the administration’s desire to use physically and psychologically traumatizing interrogation techniques. Then-Deputy Attorney General James Comey reportedly warned his colleagues that they would be “ashamed” when their work became public.
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dallasnews.com
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Somewhere between 15,000 and 50,000 demonstrators marched Thursday on the small Louisiana town of Jena, where racial tension and prejudicial justice have captured national attention.
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pbwt.com
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President Bush has selected former federal judge Michael Mukasey as his new attorney general. Mukasey has a reputation for being tough and impatient, which is fortunate, considering that he’ll have only 15 months to turn around an ailing Justice Department.
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thewe.cc
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After suffering three years of isolation, alleged torture and constitutionally suspect detainment, Jose Padilla has been convicted of terrorism conspiracy charges. The government’s key piece of evidence was an al-Qaida application, which Padilla was accused of filling out in Arabic, using an alias.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — Remember when President Bush promised to fire anyone in the White House involved in the leaking of Valerie Plame’s identity? How far we’ve come. “Scooter” Libby’s commutation is but the latest outrage perpetrated by an administration more concerned with protecting its secrets than the rule of law.
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By Ellen Goodman — Let me wish the Supreme Court justices a fond farewell as they set out on their summer vacation. We can all rest assured now that they won’t do any more damage until the first week in October.
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By Amy Goodman — Bush probably has ensured that Cheney’s guy won’t spill the beans. But in doing so the president has thrown dirt on the words of the Declaration of Independence.
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nytimes.com
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Just hours after a federal appeals panel told I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby to go directly to jail without passing go, President Bush stepped in to commute his sentence, thus setting the former Cheney aide and star of Plamegate free. Libby will still have to pay a $250,000 fine, so look for him on the lecture circuit.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — Just say no. The Senate’s Democratic majority—joined by all Republicans who purport to be moderate—must tell President Bush that this will be the answer to any controversial nominee to the Supreme Court or to the appellate courts.
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By Ellen Goodman — Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the only woman left on the Supreme Court, has been forced to watch as a pack of ideologues undoes her life’s work. Once dismissed as a moderate, Ginsburg is ready for a fight.
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(AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
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By Barry Lando — Saddam Hussein was a ruthless tyrant, but he had help from his friends, including powerful world leaders and wealthy businessmen. Former “60 Minutes” producer and “Web of Deceit” author Barry Lando wonders what embarrassing revelations might have emerged had Saddam’s trial—and those of his associates—been more interested in truth than execution.
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An e-mail contained in a batch of documents released to the Senate on Tuesday exposed a searing rebuke from then-White House political affairs director Sara Taylor, who criticized Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty for revealing that a U.S. attorney in Arkansas was fired to make room for a Karl Rove protege, not because of performance.
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slate.com
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Senate Republicans successfully blocked a symbolic vote of no-confidence in Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Monday, although none defended his performance. A handful of Republicans, including some who have called for Gonzales’ resignation, voted with the Democrats, while Joe Lieberman voted against the measure.
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nndb.com
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Colin Powell has come out against Guantanamo Bay: “Guantanamo has become a major, major problem ... in the way the world perceives America and if it were up to me I would close Guantanamo, not tomorrow but this afternoon.” The former secretary of state has been eager to rehabilitate his image in recent years after a disastrous WMD sales pitch at the U.N.
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By Eugene Robinson — Warning: This is a column about Paris Hilton. Those who are trying to ignore the travails of the famous-for-being-famous hotel heiress might want to avert their eyes. The rest of you, join me in honorable surrender. We have no choice but to pay attention.
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By Marie Cocco — Now we’ve bungled our own kangaroo courts. Two military judges, acting separately in the cases of two alleged terrorists, have dismissed war crimes charges against both. The legal reasoning is technical. But this breakdown is no technicality—it is farce.
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More than 300 of Italy’s life-sentence prisoners have signed a letter asking the Italian president to reinstate the death penalty and change their sentences. Italy is one of the world’s leading opponents of execution and even allows prisoners serving life sentences conditional release after years of good behavior. But the inmates who signed the letter seem to feel that life behind bars is not worth living.
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A Saudi prisoner at the detention center in Guantanamo Bay has apparently committed suicide, the U.S. military said in a statement. Human rights organizations have repeatedly warned that indefinite detentions—some now longer than five years—combined with harsh “interrogation techniques” and unfair trials could drive detainees to take their own lives.
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In an apparent rebuke to the Supreme Court’s recent abortion decision, retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor told Fox News that the law “shouldn’t change just because the faces on the court have changed.” O’Connor, who time and again swung the court in favor of a woman’s right to choose, also criticized lawmakers who try to put political pressure on the judicial process.
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A federal appeals court is looking into the legitimacy of “do-overs” for detainee tribunals at Guantanamo Bay. Critics say the practice is unfair because it effectively allows the government to retry cases until it gets the results it wants, but there may not be much the high court can do under current legislation.
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The House has passed an expansion of hate crimes legislation to include discrimination against gender, sexual orientation and disability. Though the measure succeeded with bipartisan support and is expected to make it through the Senate, President Bush has vowed to veto the bill, calling it unnecessary.
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By Marie Cocco — The falsely accused Duke lacrosse players deserve their indignation, but so does Jerry Miller, who spent 24 years in jail for a rape he did not commit. It turns out there are many innocent men—too many of them African-American—who have done time they shouldn’t have, and there are probably many, many more.
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A human rights organization is suing Yahoo for assisting the Chinese government in arresting dissidents by providing information on its users. Like Google and Microsoft, Yahoo has defended the practice of handing over data to China as a necessary evil mitigated by the benefits of the Internet, crippled and corrupt though it may be.
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AP Photo / Brennan Linsley
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By Robert Scheer — The Supreme Court may not be interested in applying American values to Guantanamo Bay, but at least one soldier has taken a principled stand against the prison’s tortured justice system.
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The Senate told Bush to shove his “take it or leave it” offer and ordered subpoenas for key figures in the U.S. attorney scandal. Sen. Pat Leahy had this to say about the president’s above-the-law attitude: “A system of justice does not serve at the pleasure of any person in this country.”
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Marching in Chicago: Resisting Rahm Emanuel’s Neoliberal Savagery
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