The National Journal caught an interesting slip from John Negroponte, former director of national intelligence , who uttered The-Torture-Technique-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named”: waterboarding. While Attorney General Mukasey continues to say that he is still thinking about waterboarding months after his seemingly false testimony before Congress, Negroponte admitted in an interview that indeed it was used — but encourages people not to look back at such small things as a torture program. Continue reading “Negroponte Admits that Waterboarding Was Used By Bush Administration”
Category: Lawyering
After the loss of many American lives and billions in American dollars, the justice system in Afghanistan seems to be de-evolving back into the Taliban-style Islamic extremism. Journalist Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh, 23, has been sentenced to death for merely downloading material deemed blasphemous to Islam relating to the role of women in Islamic societies. Not only has the U.S.-backed government sentenced him to death, one of its top “justice” officials has threatened to severely punish any reporter even expressing support for Kambakhsh. Continue reading “Afghan Justice: Government Sentences Journalist to Death for Blasphemy Against the Prophet”
Today, I have the honor of being the commencement speaker for the John Marshall Law School graduation. Continue reading “Commencement Address for the John Marshall Law School Graduating Class of 2008”
In his confirmation hearing, Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey was rescued by Sens. Chuck Schumer and Diane Feinstein from having to admit that waterboarding has long been defined as torture by U.S. and international courts. At the time, he first denied (under oath) knowing what waterboarding is and then, when told, insisted that he needed more time to think about it. Now, after months, he has suggested that it is not a matter of time or knowledge — he may simply refuse to answer the question that would implicated President Bush in a war crime. Continue reading “Months Later, Mukasey Still Thinking About Waterboarding and Says He May Never Say Whether it is Torture”
In a positively mind-blowing decision, the South Carolina Supreme Court decided to allow 20 people who flunked the bar to become lawyers rather than inform one individual that he had been incorrectly told that he had passed. Worse still, the current and immediate past presidents of the state bar have dismissed the controversy as resolved. Continue reading “South Carolina Supreme Court Allows 20 People Who Flunked Bar to Pass — Including Children of Powerful Attorneys”
The New Jersey Supreme Court has upheld a lower court decision against a father who claimed that he should not have to pay child support to his ex-wife after discovering that the child was not his own. It is only the latest in a string of such cases. Continue reading “New Jersey Court Orders Man to Pay Child Support Even If He is Not True Father”
In light of the $5 million given to a witness in the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, this column may be of interest. Continue reading “Zacarias Moussaoui and the Mad Pursuit of a Trophy Terrorist”
As leaders in both parties in Congress and the Justice Department seek to scuttle any real investigation into America’s torture program, a federal judge may have thrown a wrench into the works. This week, U.S. District Judge Richard W. Roberts not only found the tapes to be evidence but demanded that the government file a full explanation on their destruction in 2005. Continue reading “Federal Judge Orders Administration to Explain the Destruction of CIA Torture Tapes; Finds Tapes to be Evidence”
After pushing the country into the disastrous Iraq war and then being forced out as head of the World Bank in scandal, Paul Wolfowitz has been given yet another chance to serve his country in his signature fashion as the head a high-level advisory panel on arms control and disarmament. At the same time, another made man Steven G. Bradbury has also been renominated for his position despite (or because of) his endorsement of torture Continue reading “A Made Man Returns: Wolfowitz Gets Another Government Job”
For those interested in why Wolfowitz could possibly secure gainful employment in government after his disasters in Iraq and the World Bank, this prior column may be of interest on how to succeed in the Bush Administration: Continue reading “Earning Your Bones in the Bush Bada Bing! Club”
The criminal trial of Wesley Snipes for tax evasion was already something of a curiosity with its focus on Section 861 tax movement described by experts as a virtual “cult.” Now, the government has revealed unhinged letters where Snipes claims nonresident alien status and appears to threaten the government with “collateral damage” if they pursue his case. Continue reading “Making a Bad Situation Worse: Wesley Snipes Sends Bizarre Letters to IRS Claiming to Be Alien and Threatening “Collateral Damage””
Just as the media is looking back at the ten-year anniversary of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his chief of staff are facing accusations of lying under oath in a very similar case. The evidence under uncovered by the Free Press appears quite credible and damning for both Kwame Kilpatrick and his chief of staff Christine Beatty. Continue reading “Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick Accused of Perjury — Could Face Criminal and Bar Charges”
When two emotionally disturbed teenagers at the the Judge Rotenberg Education Center in Boston were given extreme shock treatments after a prank call, seven staff members were fired. It now appears that that was too small of a purge. This week, it was revealed at officials at the Center ordered the destruction of the videotapes of the two boys being abused — despite direct demands that they preserve the tapes. The Center’s defense is virtually identical to that of the Bush Administration in destroying the CIA torture tapes: it was necessary to avoid the inadvertent release of the image to the public and the harm such release would produce. In doing so, the Center may have committed crimes by destroying evidence of its own potential guilt. Continue reading “School Destroys Tapes of Harmful Shock Treatments Given to Two Students in Hoax Case”
There is another interesting turn of events in the ongoing scandal over the alleged arson by Texas Supreme Court Justice David Medina and his wife. While state Judge Jim Wallace agreed to the prosecutor’s demand to toss out the indictments, he strongly criticized both the decision and the competence of the prosecutors — voicing obvious questions over why prosecutors would seek an indictment over months only to quash those indictments when they are handed down by a grand jury. Continue reading “Judge Questions Decision to Quash Indictments of Texas Supreme Court Justice and Wife; Criticizes Actions of Prosecutors as Premature and Careless”
It seems that many Texas judges are spending more time in court or before investigators these days — as either defendants or targets. From sexual assault to arson to corruption to abuse, Texas jurists are facing a bumper crop of allegations with additional judicial scandals brewing in neighbor states of Louisiana and Mississippi. For the Fifth Circuit covering all three states, 2008 could be a black year. Continue reading “The Mess in Texas: State and Federal Judges Accused of Everything from Arson to Corruption to Sexual Assault”