Thursday, February 25, 2010
Last week, CNN released a poll showing that 86 percent of Americans believe the U.S. government is “broken.” I admit my first reaction was to wonder subversively, “How would they know?” A contemporaneous Pew survey of the public’s “political news IQ” showed that on one of the most heavily reported issues of 2009-10, only 32 [...]
Filed in News Blurbs
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Also tagged ACLU, Barack Obama, Conservatives, Conspiracy Theories, Economy, Healthcare, Ignorance, Jerry Falwell, Law, Movements, Oliver North, Reform, Republicans, Rights, Rightwing, Rush Limbaugh, Tea Party
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Assassinating non-Americans is just as illegal as assassinating Americans. The leap here is not to victims of a different citizenship, but to the legalization of murder.
The director of U.S. national intelligence told the House Intelligence Committee the government has the right to kill Americans abroad.
Here are 10 problems with this:
1. Acts that are crimes under [...]
But even if you’re someone who does want the President to have the power to order American citizens killed without a trial by decreeing that they are Terrorists (and it’s worth remembering that if you advocate that power, it’s going to be vested in all Presidents, not just the ones who are as Nice, Good, Kind-Hearted and [...]
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Also tagged Assassinations, Barack Obama, Dennis Blair, Due Process, First Amendment, Fourteenth Amendment, Glenn Greenwald, GWOT, Intelligence, Terrorism, Unitary Executive, War Powers
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Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Just think about this for a minute. Barack Obama, like George Bush before him, has claimed the authority to order American citizens murdered based solely on the unverified, uncharged, unchecked claim that they are associated with Terrorism and pose “a continuing and imminent threat to U.S. persons and interests.” They’re entitled to no charges, no trial, no [...]
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Also tagged Al Qaeda, Anwar Aulaqi, Assassinations, Barack Obama, CIA, Due Process, Glenn Greenwald, Hit List, JSOC, Law, Military, Murder, Terrorism, Yemen
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Saturday, January 23, 2010
In a decision that might actually have more dire implications than “Dred Scott v Sandford” the Supreme Court of the United States in Citizens United v Federal Election Commission declared that because of the alchemy of its 19th Century predecessors in deciding that corporations had all the rights of people, any restrictions on how these corporate-beings [...]
Thursday, January 14, 2010
The American Civil Liberties Union is working with the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers to find lawyers whose laptops or other electronic devices were searched at U.S. points of entry and exit. The groups argue that the practice of suspicionless laptop searches violates fundamental rights of freedom of speech and protection against unreasonable seizures [...]
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Together with my good friend and occasional courtroom adversary David Boies, I am attempting to persuade a federal court to invalidate California’s Proposition 8—the voter-approved measure that overturned California’s constitutional right to marry a person of the same sex.
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Some have suggested that we have brought this case too soon, and that neither the country nor [...]
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Also tagged Conservatives, Courts, David Boies, Discrimination, Law, LGBT, Marriage Equality, Perry v Schwarzenegger, Same-sex Marriage, SCOTUS, Ted Olson
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Judge Walker has ruled that things like TV advertisements, press releases and campaign workers’ statements are also relevant evidence of what the voters intended. The judge went so far as to order the Proposition 8 campaign to disclose private internal communications about messages that were considered for public use but never actually used. He has [...]
Saturday, January 9, 2010
On January 11th, a remarkable legal case opens in a San Francisco courtroom—on its way, it seems almost certain, to the Supreme Court. Perry v. Schwarzenegger challenges the constitutionality of Proposition 8, the California referendum that, in November, 2008, overturned a state Supreme Court decision allowing same-sex couples to marry. Its lead lawyers are unlikely allies: Theodore [...]
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Perry v. Schwarzenegger indeed asks the “ultimate question” of whether gays have a federal right to marry, but because the case is alleging that Prop. 8 violated the equal-protection clause of the U.S. Constitution, the federal court decision will have implications for gay Americans in nearly every arena of public life, from housing to parenting [...]
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Also tagged California, Civil Rights, Courts, David Boies, Human Rights, Law, LGBT, Marriage Equality, Perry v Schwarzenegger, Proposition 8, SCOTUS, Ted Olson, Vaughn Walker
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Friday, November 13, 2009
Valerie Plame Wilson cannot publicize details of her work as a CIA operative, even though a government official already outed her as an agent in an attempt to discredit her husband, Joseph C. Wilson, a federal appeals court says.Plame Wilson, who served as chief of the unit responsible for weapons proliferation issues related to Iraq, argued [...]
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Also tagged CIA, Courts, Dick Cheney, Intelligence, Joseph Wilson, Karl Rove, Law, Niger Yellowcake, NOC, Nuclear Proliferation, Robert Novak, Scooter Libby, Spies, Valerie Plame
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Thursday, October 1, 2009
Noting that he received a copy of the Constitution when he was sworn in as a senator, he proceeded to read it to Kris, emphasizing this part: “no Warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be [...]
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