Obama Administration Follows Bush/Cheney On Politicization Of DOJ
/
bmazThe courts and government of the United States of America are open and unfettered. It is time for the Obama Administration to quit frittering away the American foundation of law to the whims and winds of personal electoral desire and perceived political necessity. There can be no greater show of strength and character than to demonstrate to the world that we live and die with the principles we were founded with. Put the September 11th defendants on trial where they belong, as criminals in the Article III Federal court of jurisdiction.
The Use of False Passports Does Not Make Someone an Al Qaeda Member
Happy Fourth of July.
This week, the DC Circuit Court had to tell the government that using false passports does not make someone an al Qaeda member.
At issue is the appeal of Belkacem Bensayah, an Algerian who had been living in Bosnia…
Bill Keller Suppresses American Tradition of Opposition to Torture
When asked by NYT's own media reporter about the NYT's refusal to use the word torture, Bill Keller could barely exert himself to say more than the official press statement. Here's what the spokesperson gave to Michael Calderone.
A spokesman…
Press Groups Call Gitmo Banning Prior Restraint
"Any system of prior restraints of expression comes to this Court bearing a heavy presumption against its constitutional validity" ... The Government "thus carries a heavy burden of showing justification for the imposition of such a restraint."…
Liz "BabyDick" Cheney and DNC: Ideological Soulmates?
A number of people have taken the DNC to task for its Rovian attack on RNC Chair Michael Steele for comments suggesting we might fail in Afghanistan (Glenn Greenwald, Greg Sargent, Adam Serwer). The only thing I would add to their comments is…
Cowboys, T. Jeff's Declaration, Bond Bitchez and Teh Porn Stash
/
bmazEnough of these namby pamby blog post tiles. The boys are back, Anna Chapman is hot and Thomas Jefferson is sleeping with teh porn.
Keep Your Declaration of Independence Right Next to Your Assassination Cards
Call me crazy, but this is probably not exactly the kind of treatment Thomas Jefferson was thinking the Declaration of Independence would receive 234 years after he wrote it.
Many nights an item prompts a call to wake the NCTC director, Michael…
Oil Shill Mary Landrieu Claims Ignorance of ConocoPhillips
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has voted to have its own commission investigate the BP disaster. The Committee finds that necessary, according to Mary Landrieu, because Obama hasn't appointed a representative from the oil…
The Gray Lady Waited Three Years to Quote People Calling Torture Torture
In this post, I described the Harvard study that showed that US' largest newspapers stopped calling waterboarding torture once it became clear the US was doing it.I wanted to look more closely at an odd time lapse in the NYT's Orwellian treatment…
Even the Crusades Weren't "Forever"
I'm going to assume John Cole was asking sincerely when he posted this request.
Can someone explain this reaction from Emptywheel:
After prompting Kagan to deliver the standard justification for detaining enemy combatants during war…
Torture and Truth
Yesterday, I posted on a Harvard study showing that the press, after an established tradition of referring to waterboarding as torture, stopped doing so once it became clear the US engaged in the practice. Our press, in other words, refused…
Amy Klobuchar Shreds Coburn's "Concept of Freedom"
Senator Coburn spent about 20 straight minutes today whining to Elena Kagan about how much less freedom we have today than we did 30 years ago.
Which Amy Klobuchar promptly shredded--by far the highlight of today's hearing. As she points…
Waterboarding Is Only Torture If John McCain Says So
Time for another blogger ethics panel. Or maybe just a bloggers' style guide, one that states unequivocally that waterboarding is torture. Because--as Glenn reported earlier--the dead tree press only calls waterboarding torture when others do…
Elena Kagan on Illegal Wiretapping
From Elena Kagan's first comments about Cheney's illegal wiretapping program yesterday (at 2:10), it sounds almost like she'd vote for rule of law in the al-Haramain case (though the case is probably in the gray area of cases on which she…
DOJ Blows Smoke on Timing of Russian Spy Bust
Earlier Tuesday, I did a post aiming to understand the timing of Monday's bust of 11 alleged Russian spies. Later in the day, Mark Hosenball did a post--heavily reliant on DOJ press spokesperson Dean Boyd--that doesn't make any sense.
First,…
Elena Kagan and Lindsey Graham on the Global Battlefield, the Sequel
This exchange is one of the most telling from the entire Kagan hearing today (note; we've edited this exchange for length; here's the full exchange; also, while you're watching, keep an eye on the body language of the bearded man sitting behind…
Does Kagan Think the 2001 Afghan AUMF Authorized Iraq?
I'm going to assume that this was just a misstatement on Elena Kagan's part, but it's one that I hope she corrects before her confirmation hearings are done. In response to a question from DiFi, Kagan suggested that SCOTUS' decision in the…
Why Roll Up the Russian Spy Network Now?
As a number of you have commented, DOJ announced the arrest of 10 alleged Russian spies yesterday (with one person, based in another country, remaining at large). The alleged spies are basically people living under false identities tasked to…
Judicial Ethics in the Gulf: Judge Feldman's Conflicts and DOJ Malpractice
Oiled up BP Judge Martin Feldman was required by both statutory and ethical considerations to recuse himself; at a absolute base minimum to disclose his appearances of conflict on the record; but he did neither. Any competent standard of lawyering would mandate the government to raise the issue if they are going to fight Feldman's ruling; but they have not. The public ought to be asking what the hell is going on here.
DiFi Will Cave on Intelligence Reform
As I've noted before (here and here), confirmation hearings for James Clapper have gotten bogged down in a dispute between the Administration and both houses of Congress over whether Congress should have the tools to exercise real oversight…