Senator Joseph Lieberman has unveiled his new legislation to allow Americans to be stripped of their citizenship if the State Department concludes that they are associated with a terrorist organization. As chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, Lieberman has authority to push the bill which will be introduced also in a house version by Republican Charlie Dent and Democrat Jason Altmire. The legislation, in my view, is facially unconstitutional in its current form. I discussed this story on the segment below on MSNBC Countdown.
Continue reading “Lieberman Unveils Citizenship Stripping Bill”
Category: Justice
Below is today’s column on the retirement of Associate Justice John Paul Stevens.
Continue reading “John Paul Stevens: The Uncalled Shot”
Today, the Supreme Court will take up the potentially historic case of McDonald v. Chicago on gun rights. There is more at stake than just the application of the Second Amendment to the states, as I discussed in today’s column in Roll Call below:
Continue reading “Gunning for Slaughterhouse? Supreme Court Hears Arguments in McDonald Gun Case”
Clyde Haberman at the New York Times has an interesting column on the general shift away from bringing civil rights charges when state juries fail to convict in cases on the state level. Al Sharpton is calling on the Obama Administration to try police officers again in the case of Michael Mineo after a Brooklyn jury acquitted three police officers.
Continue reading “Sharpton Pushes For Federal Prosecution After Brooklyn Jury Acquits in Mineo Case”
The Obama Administration continued the tradition of the “Friday night dump” by just releasing the Justice Department report on former Justice officials John Yoo, Jay Bybee and Steven Bradbury. The report is linked below. The Justice Department confirmed that the investigation originally found professional misconduct by Yoo and Bybee, but an unnamed high-ranking official at the Office of Professional Responsibility overruled the finding to avoid any professional action against them. I discussed the story on this segment of Countdown.
Continue reading “Justice Department Declines Punishment for Bush Officials for “Poor Judgment””
The Obama Administration is appealing a ruling in favor of privacy before the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit — seeking to allow it to track people by their cellphones and arguing that there is no privacy expectations to prevent tracking without probable cause. It is another example of Obama’s continued assault on civil liberties — and the failure of liberals to call him to account for such policies.
Continue reading “Obama Administration Seeks To Strip Cellphone Users of Privacy Protections”
Today in a congressional hearing, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair acknowledged that the U.S. may, with executive approval, deliberately target and kill U.S. citizens who are suspected of being involved in terrorism. I discussed this story in the segment on MSNBC Countdown below.
Continue reading “Obama Administration Claims Right to Kill Americans Suspected of Terrorism”
Associate Justice Clarence Thomas appeared to take on President Obama this week in discussing the ruling in Citizens United — contradicting the President’s portrayal in the State of the Union. In my view, the President did overstate the holding (not unheard of in the halls of Congress), but I continue to despair over the increasing public role played by justices (here). In my view, Thomas should not be engaging in such a public debate and should allow these decisions to speak for themselves.
Continue reading “Clarence Thomas Defends Recent Ruling on Campaign Finance”
In a disgusting pornographic collection called “the Misty series,” a little girl named Amy was photographed by her uncle who then distributed the pictures worldwide on the Internet. As discussed earlier, now an adult, Amy has succeeded to securing restitution not from her uncle but from a man who was found in possession of the pictures. As reported by John Schwartz in the New York Times article below, it has raised serious questions from lawyers and law professors (including myself) but the Obama Administration is now supporting such claims.
Continue reading “Pay Misty for Me: Courts Mull Over Restitution Payments to Victims of Child Pornography From Possessors”
In a breach of protocol, Associate Justice Sam Alito was filmed during the State of the Union address last night shaking his head and mouthing “not true” in response to the President’s criticism of the Citizens United ruling on corporate campaign finance limits. Ironically, Rep. Joe Wilson promised to restrain himself during this speech and not scream “you lie” again during the President’s speech. For a justice, this breach (shown below) is no less remarkable. It is, in a word, injudicious.
Supporters of reformer and lawyer Gao Zhisheng have been trying to confirm rumors that he died after being tortured by the government. In a chilling response, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu stated that Gao is “where he should be.”
Continue reading “China: Missing Reformer Lawyer “Is Where He Should Be” After Alleged Torture By Government”
In a decision that could have a dramatic effect on the upcoming elections, the Supreme Court has ruled 5-4 in favor of a group of conservative filmmakers in the “Hillary: The Movie” Case. The result of the decision could increase spending for corporations, unions, and nonprofits in the election. I previously discussed the case and the likelihood of this 5-4 ruling. I discussed the case on this segment of Countdown. Other commentators like Glenn Greenwald have also weighed in on the case with similar views, here.
Former Chinese Supreme Court Justice Huang Songyou, 52, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for corruption after being convicted of taking more than 3.9 million yuan ($570,000) in bribes from four lawyers in return for favorable rulings. He was also convicted of embezzling 1.2 million yuan of government funds in 1997 when he was president of a city-level court in Guang-dong Province.
Continue reading “Chinese Supreme Court Justice Sentenced to Life Imprisonment for Corruption”
Federal authorities have subpoenaed James W. Lewis in an investigation of the 27-year-old case of the poisoning of Tylenol capsules that led to the deaths of four women, two men and a 12-year-old girl, died in 1982 in the Chicago area.
Continue reading “The Ultimate Cold Case: Authorities Subpoena Man in 1982 Tylenol Case”
This week, the Plaintiffs in the World Bank/IMF protest case filed a notice with the Court on the appointment of a forensic expert to investigate the destruction of evidence in the case. As lead counsel in one of the two cases (with my colleague Daniel Schwartz of Bryan Cave), I am limited in what I can say on the case. However, to reduce calls to my office, I am posting the filings below.
Continue reading “Plaintiffs in World Bank Protest Case File for Forensic Expert”