Category: Politics

Criminal law, Politics, Society

Holder Defends Swartz Abuse As Example Of Good Prosecutorial Discretion

holdereric220px-Aaron_Swartz_at_Boston_Wikipedia_Meetup,_2009-08-18_Last week, Attorney General Eric Holder left no question about the Administration’s support of the abusive treatment of Aaron Swartz by US Attorney Carmen Ortiz and Deputy US Attorney Stephen Heymann. Heymann was previously linked to a suicide in another prosecution. We have discussed the abusive prosecution earlier and Swartz’s suicide after months of unrelenting threats and coercion. Holder heralded the treatment of Swartz as an example of the “good use of prosecutorial discretion.” Swartz’s girlfriend has come forward to denounce Holder and the Obama Administration for its misrepresentations in the case.

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Bizarre, International, Politics, Society

Greek Soccer Star Banned Over Nazi Salute

AEK Athens midfielder Giorgos Katidis is the latest celebrity to embrace that “I’m a moron” defense in the wake of a scandal. In celebration of a goal against Veria last week, Katidis did a Nazi salute. It would be an outrage in any country but the Germans in World War II killed as many as 800,000 of his countrymen — though the precise number has been recently debated. He has now been banned from the national team.

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Constitutional Law, Free Speech, International, Politics, Religion

Egypt’s Government Moves Toward Blasphemy Citizen Arrests

stoningJust when you thought that blasphemy laws could not get any worse, the Muslim Brotherhood has come up with a new idea: citizen arrests of tourists for blasphemy. The Middle East is replete with cases of mobs killing people accused of the slightest offense toward Islam. Now, according to Internet reporting, the Egyptian prosecutor general for the Muslim Brotherhood has pushed through a new law permitting ordinary Egyptians to arrest those who offend Islamic law.

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Academia, Politics

Eric Cantor And The GOP’s Assault On Public Schools

By Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

Eric Cantor from his private school yearbook
Eric Cantor from his private school yearbook

My representative, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, has been doing a lot of talking recently about public schools. Criticized for “softening” his tough stand on social issues, Cantor has taken to the lectern to buff up his right-wing street cred. And what better whipping boy than public education?

Take for instance this little dittie in February while speaking to the American Enterprise Institute (AEI)  about budget priorities even as he diverted attention from the impending sequestration mess that he helped bring about. Lamenting the lack of progress on curing diseases such as brain cancer, Cantor remarked, “There is an appropriate and necessary role for the federal government to ensure funding for basic medical research. Doing all we can to facilitate medical breakthroughs for people … should be a priority. We can and must do better …. Funds currently spent by the government on social science – including on politics of all things – would be better spent helping find cures to diseases.”  As if  one must exclude the other, you know.

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Constitutional Law, Courts, Free Speech, Justice, Politics

National Security Letters Ruled Unconstitutional

bill of rightsby Gene Howington, Guest Blogger

In what may be good news for civil libertarians in a decision released on Friday, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston (District Court of Northern California, 9th Circuit, San Francisco) ordered the government to stop issuing National Security Letters (NSL) across the board, holding that issuing the NSLs violate the 1st Amendment Right to Free Speech and Right of Free Association. For those of you not familiar with NSLs, they are written demands from the FBI that compel phone companies, internet service providers, credit companies, financial institutions and others to hand over confidential records about their customers.  This information includes subscriber information, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, websites visited, physical local of mobile phones, etc.  NSLs have been controversial from the start as they did not require court approval and they come with a built-in gag order that prevents recipients from disclosing to anyone that they have even received an NSL. FBI agents essentially self-issue an NSL with only the only oversight being a sign-off from the Special Agent in Charge of their office. There is no judicial oversight, no proof required, just the mere assertion by the Executive controlled FBI that the information is “relevant” to an investigation into international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities and their own Executive generated approval.

The words “unchecked rubber stamp” come to mind.

This stunning defeat for the Obama administration’s surveillance practices as carried over from the Bush Administration in a power that was created by Congress in 1986 but greatly expanded by the controversial Patriot Act is good news, but not great news.  Judge Illston concurrently issued a 90-day stay on her orders to allow the government to appeal to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and the ruling is narrow in scope (see below).  This case is not, however, the first swing at this question before the court(s) and it is unlikely to be the last.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, International, Politics, Society

Utah Legislators Object To Domestic Violence Law Out Of Concern For Abusers Just “Testing The Limits” and Same-Sex Protections

Utah flagWhat was expected to be a simple correction of its domestic violence statute in Utah to include non-married couples, triggered a disturbing outburst of homophobic and extremist views. The bill was opposed by the Gun Owners of America.

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Free Speech, Media, Politics

Biden Staffer Forces Journalist To Delete Pictures and Search His iPhone After Maryland Speech

225px-joe_biden_official_photo_portrait_2-croppedRecently, I felt Vice President Joe Biden was unfairly quoted in a speech that he gave at the University of Maryland on domestic violence. I am less supportive however about what followed the speech. A Biden aide proceeded to threaten a student journalist about taking pictures of Biden and Dana Rosenzweig proceeded to demand that the student delete his pictures and show her his cellphone. While the Biden office has apologized to the university, it is unclear why this staffer still has a job after such a thuggish confrontation with a journalist. It is doubtful that she would have done this with someone from USA Today or the New York Times. The Biden staff have been accused of limiting press and interviews due to the Vice President’s reputation as a perpetual gaffe-machine in public comments.

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, International, Politics, Society

Egypt and Muslim Brotherhood Denounce U.N. Document Calling For Protection Of Women As Contrary To Islamic Principles

150px-muslim_woman_in_yemenEgypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and Egyptian diplomats denounced the United Nation’s document calling for the protection of women as contrary to Islamic principles and Egypt is demanding that the resolution include an exception for countries that view the provisions are contrary to their values. The Egyptians called the document “deceitful” and the ruin of traditional families.

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Bizarre, Politics, Society

Shocking Ignorance or Misleading Editing? Biden Speech Suggests Slap Across The Face Is Not Abuse But Remarks Appear To Have Been Cut Off Midsentence

Conservative sites have exploded with a new controversy surrounding Joe Biden who appears to distinguish between true abuse or worrisome signs of abuse and a “garden variety slap across the face.” However, listening to the YouTube clip it is clear that the statement has been cut off.

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Bizarre, International, Politics, Religion

Iranian Clerics Attack Ahmadinejad For Hugging Chavez’s Mother

220px-Mahmoud_AhmadinejadThe bizarre world of Iranian extremism was evident again this week as clerics in Iran raised a hue and cry over a picture where President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is shown consoling Hugo Chavez’s mother with a hug. Clerics called the picture a sin and abomination against Islam. They also attacked another cleric, Iranian Vice President Mohammad Reza Mirtajeddini, who felt no moral difficulty in lying about the hug and saying that the photo was doctored.

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Constitutional Law, Military, Politics

Forty Years Later: The Lessons of Watergate

180px-WatergateFromAir220px-Nixon-departToday I will join a distinguished panel to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Watergate. I will be speaking with Liz Holtzman, member of the House Judiciary Committee during Watergate; Daniel Ellsberg, of Pentagon Papers fame; and Fritz Schwarz, Chief Counsel, Brennan Center for Justice and former Chief Counsel to the Church Committee. We will be discussing the legacy of Watergate in terms of our current controversies over FISA, war powers, presidential papers, and other executive abuses.

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Criminal law, International, Politics, Society

Saudi Arabia Considers Halt On Beheadings . . . Due To Shortage of Swordsmen

220px-Froissart_Chronicles,_executionAt first, this article sounded like a reform in the making out of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: the government is considering a moratorium on beheadings. However, the reason is not some sudden modernization and rejection of medieval Sharia laws. Saudi is facing a labor crisis of sorts: there are too few swordsmen to dispatch the guilty.

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Bizarre, International, Military, Politics

Karzai Accuses U.S. of Colluding With Taliban on Attacks

225px-hamid_karzai_2004-06-14There’s crazy and then there is Karzai crazy. Afghan President Hamid Karzai spoke this weekend and accused the United States of colluding with . . . the Taliban. It was an odd accusation from a man who said that he wished that he had joined the Taliban against the United States as American soldiers were dying in the field and the American people were pouring billions into this corrupt family and country. Notably, however, Karzai does put the lie to the Administration’s heralding how the President is trying to pull out troops from Afghanistan when reports indicated that the Administration has been trying to get Karzai to let more troops stay in the country.

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Constitutional Law, Free Speech, International, Politics, Religion, Society

Saudi Arabia Sentences Two Leading Civil Libertarians To Long Prison Stints

206378_1053429857926_389_n200px-Coat_of_arms_of_Saudi_Arabia.svgThe hope for reforms in Saudi Arabia remain a roller coaster ride for civil libertarians. On Saturday, a Saudi Arabian court sentenced two prominent political and human rights activists to at least 10 years in prison for protesting the policies of the Kingdom and speaking with the media. Mohammed Fahd al-Qahtani (shown right) and Abdullah Hamad are founding members of the banned Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association, known as Acpra, which documents human rights abuses. The group also has called for a constitutional monarchy and elections. The exercise of basic rights of free speech and association that led to the banning of the group and now the sentencing of its leaders.

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Constitutional Law, Courts, International, Justice, Politics, Society

UPDATE – Your Rights Under Attack: What A Difference Judical Review Makes

Stock Photo of the Consitution of the United States and Feather Quillby Gene Howington, Guest Blogger

Recently we discussed the DHS’s self-approval of their draconian and arguably unconstitutional and unquestionably outrageous policy on searching computers within 100 miles of the border (Your Rights Under Attack: What A Difference 100 Miles Makes). This week, a ruling from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals not only showed the DHS was legally wrong in their self-approval of a policy that runs afoul of the 4th Amendment, but also illustrated the true value of the checks and balances created by the Separation of Powers Doctrine that so many in the Executive seem eager to trample these days. The case at bar was U.S. v. Cotterman.  In a breath of good news for civil libertarians, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals en banc ruling held that the 4th Amendment does apply at the border despite DHS contention to the contrary.

Let’s look at this case and ruling. Bear with the long restatement of facts as they are relevant to the holding.

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