Month: October 2007

In a dramatic turn of events at the Attorney General nomination hearing, Mike Mukasey suggested the NSA warrantless spying and waterboarding torture might be acceptable under the Constitution; meanwhile the US government offers its first detailed legal defense of how it treated Jose Padilla under its custody: Senators Clash With Nominee About Torture (New York…

Bush Administration scores major victory in Senate against Americans’ right to privacy, reaching an important “consensus” agreement with members of Congress to grant immunity to telecoms while providing little oversight: Senate and Bush Agree On Terms of Spying Bill (Washington Post) Amid a very cordial tone, members of Congress throw softball questions at Attorney General…

The Department of Justice’s shift away from normal crime fighting toward a national security and counterterrorism focus correlates with an overall rise in national street crime, while a recent study from New York University shows the DoJ’s reprioritization is not met by the actual threat, as very few cases billed as “terrorism-related” end up prosecuted…

Verizon, believing its role is not to “second-guess the legitimacy of emergency government requests” disclosed its collusion with Big Brother in a letter to congressional investigators saying that it provided telephone and Internet user data on an emergency basis without court orders 720 times: Verizon Says It Turned Over Data Without Court Orders (Washington Post)…

The US government looks at possibly redoing status hearings for detainees in order to avoid a recent court ruling that determined the first round of hearings were not legal and delay other challenges from defense lawyers, while a lawyer for detainee Majid Khan decries the lack of court transparency, alleging that secrecy has been abused…

Member of prominent Shi’a party calls for a complete withdrawal of all foreign troops and rejects permanent foreign military bases, but also supports greater decentralization of the Iraqi government, while Australia calls for snap election with the front-runner party declaring support for a complete withdrawal from Iraq: Top Shi’ite Seeks Total US Pullout (Agence France…

The Vatican’s head of interfaith dialogue and the head of the Anglican Church respond positively to the consensus letter from 138 top Muslim scholars of different schools of thought: Vatican Official Welcomes Islamic Initiative (Catholic World News) Anglicans Welcome Letter from Muslims (Associated Press/Yahoo) The CIA’s inspector general, a vocal inside critic of the agency’s…

“In refusing to consider Mr. Masri’s appeal, the Supreme Court has left an innocent person without any remedy for his wrongful imprisonment and torture. It has damaged America’s standing in the world and established the nation as Supreme Enabler of the Bush administration’s efforts to avoid accountability for its actions.”—New York Times editorial Supreme Disgrace…

With nauseating irony, a federal circuit court judge prevents the release a Guantanamo detainee for fear of being tortured in his home country, while the Supreme Court refuses to hear Lebanese-German citizen’s appealing claiming he was abducted and tortured based on the government’s argument of “state secrets privilege”: Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Torture Appeal…

Some members of Congress are ready to put electoral viability above the principle of liberty, signaling their willingness to make permanent the Big Brother powers of the Protect America Act: Democrats Seem Ready to Extend Wiretap Powers (New York Times) Failed satire or a dirty trick? Flyers posted on college campus to embarrass a group…