Stories by Michael Ratner

Michael Ratner is the president emeritus of the Center for Constitutional Rights and currently serves as attorney for Julian Assange and Wikileaks. He is co-author with Margaret Ratner Kunstler of Hell No: Your Right to Dissent in the Twenty-First Century. Follow him on Twitter @justleft.  subscribe to Michael Ratner's feed

No Forgiveness for Bush’s 'Useful Idiots,' the Liberal Hawks Who Lead Us into War

Posted on: Mar 19, 2013, Source: AlterNet

The liberal establishment willfully payed along with the preposterous claims that led to the Iraq War.

Bradley Manning: A Totalitarian Show Trial of State Secrecy

Posted on: Apr 24, 2012, Source: Comment Is Free

The US government's suppression of all accountability and transparency in prosecuting the WikiLeaks suspect is totalitarian.

The Extrajudicial Drone Murder of US Citizen Anwar al-Awlaki

Posted on: Oct 2, 2011, Source: Comment Is Free

The law on the use of lethal force by executive order is specific. This assassination broke it – that creates a terrifying precedent.

The Meaning and Importance of Dissent

Posted on: Sep 26, 2011, Source: AlterNet

In their new book, Ratner and Ratner Kunstler discuss Americans' right to protest -- and how those rights are often trampled on by the U.S. government.

From Attica to Pelican Bay: The Lessons We Haven't Learned About Prison Conditions Over the Past 40 Years

Posted on: Sep 13, 2011, Source: The Nation

Conditions in U.S. prisons remain far too like the ones that contributed to the uprising at Attica and its brutal suppression.

Calls For a 'Truth Commission' Will Lead to a Whitewash: We Must Keep Pressing for Prosecutions

Posted on: Apr 23, 2009, Source: After Downing Street

The conclusion of a commission process would likely be: the U.S. shouldn't have tortured, but it was a dangerous moment after 9/11.

Obama: Close, Don't Repackage, Guantanamo

Posted on: Dec 1, 2008, Source: The Nation

If Congress chooses to rebrand Guantanamo with a legal gloss, it will legitimize the indefinite imprisonment of people without charge.

Can We Force our Goverment to Respect Detainees Rights?

Posted on: Jul 12, 2006, Source: AlterNet

What the recent Supreme Court decision really means for American law.

Guantanamo: What the World Should Know

Posted on: Jun 10, 2004, Source: AlterNet

Why Guantanamo represents everything that is wrong with the U.S. war on terrorism. A conversation with the Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights.

Illegal War, or Legal Capture?

Posted on: Sep 27, 2001, Source: AlterNet

If the United States used the resources of the United Nations, it could solve the current crisis without resorting to violence. Here are the concrete steps towards that goal.