Rights and Liberties

Protecting your rights, habeas corpus, torture, death penalty, eavesdropping, spying, no-fly lists. Comprehensive Rights & Liberties coverage available here.

FEC Decides that the First Amendment Actually Applies to Bloggers
Posted by Steven Reynolds, The All Spin Zone on August 20, 2008 at 6:25 AM.

We bloggers are media! We get to exercise our rights to free speech! Who knew? Well, since we’ve had those rights for a couple hundred years, so I knew. The Federal Election Commission, however, has seen fit to confirm my rights as a blogger to write about . . . politics! Yes, even if I commit the sin of favoring a candidate!

Heck, you can even be political and all that stuff. Nope, you don't need any stinking "freedom of speech" to give you these rights. The FEC has assured them. The whole case evidently extends from a whine by the Clinton campaign against a blog in Iowa advocating for Barack Obama. The report on this action is from mediapost.com:

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

DOJ Preparing to Charge Six Blackwater Guards in Nisour Square Massacre
Posted by Nick Fiske, Jurist Legal News and Research on August 19, 2008 at 8:46 AM.

The U.S. Justice Department has sent so-called target letters to six Blackwater Worldwide guards involved in the September 16 killings of 17 Iraqi civilians, the Washington Post reported Sunday. Sources told the Post that the letters, which provide an opportunity for the recipients to contest grand jury evidence, indicate the Justice Department will likely seek indictments against at least some of the guards under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act (MEJA). Indictments against the Blackwater employees under the MEJA would mark the first time that State Department contractors were prosecuted under the Act, which allows criminal charges to be filed against contractors working for the Department of Defense. The sources explained that a final decision on whether to indict the men may not be made until October. The Washington Post has more.

The Blackwater incident caused domestic outrage in Iraq and has prompted legal controversy in the US. In November, the New York Times and the Washington Post reported that an FBI investigation into the incident concluded that the shootings were unjustified and last month Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari announced that private security contractors operating in Iraq may be stripped of their immunity from prosecution under a U.S.-Iraqi agreement currently in negotiations. Advocacy group Human Rights First issued a report in January asserting that existing federal law is sufficient to prosecute private contractors using excessive violence in their overseas capacities, and that the U.S. government is to blame for failing to "develop a clear policy with respect to the accountability of private contractors for crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan." The report says that the MEJA could be extended to State Department contractors, but that the U.S. has failed to do so.

Act Now: Tell Texas Not to Execute an Innocent Man
Posted by Liliana Segura, AlterNet on August 18, 2008 at 1:00 PM.

This first appeared in AlterNet's PEEK blog.

At this time last summer, the life of a Texas prisoner named Kenneth Foster was saved by a grassroots movement to stop his execution. Foster came within hours of being killed by lethal injection, when, in an unprecedented manner, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles voted to recommend that his death sentence be commuted. Governor Rick Perry complied. Today, Kenneth Foster is still behind bars serving a sentence disproportionate to his crime. But he is alive.

As I write this, activists are trying to do the same for a prisoner named Jeff Wood. Wood and Foster were both sentenced to die under Texas's "law of parties," which allows a jury to convict a defendant who was not the primary actor in a crime. The law states that "if, in the attempt to carry out a conspiracy to commit one felony, another felony is committed by one of the conspirators, all conspirators are guilty of the felony actually committed, though having no intent to commit it." This is how Kenneth Foster, the "getaway driver" in a series of robberies, ended up on death row for a murder committed by someone else, 80 feet away -- a man who himself was later executed. And this is why Jeff Wood faces execution today.

You can go here to read the specifics of the Wood case. Go here for more information on what you can do. But please consider contacting the state of Texas to urge them not to take the life of a man who did not murder anyone.

Call the Governor: (512) 463-2000

Call the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles: (512) 406-5240

Broad New Domestic Spying Measures Are Coming to a Neighborhood Near You
Posted by Liliana Segura, AlterNet on August 18, 2008 at 10:00 AM.

Arriving at a bar in Manhattan on Friday night, I presented my passport to the man at the door. (I lost my driver's license some time ago, so this has become my ID until I can get myself to the DMV.) The bouncer -- a large, humorless man in all black -- examined it, and then, on a piece of lined paper, slowly started writing down my name, date of birth, and nationality.

"Excuse me," I asked. "Is there a reason you are taking down my information?"

"NYPD," he answered, without looking up.

"Can I refuse to have this information recorded?" I asked, not really asking a question.

"Yes," he said, still not looking up. "But I can refuse to let you in."

I squabbled a bit with the bouncer as a line formed behind me. He told me that the bar had had some trouble with underage drinking. "So this isn't some sort of homeland security thing," I asked, feeling more than a little paranoid. He said it was, actually (though I got the sense he didn't know exactly what I was talking about), but assured me that the list of names would not be shared with the authorities. Then he added, "this is to keep you safe."

***

On Saturday morning, I had an article from my boss in my inbox. From the Washington Post:

U.S. May Ease Police Spy Rules

More Federal Intelligence Changes Planned

The Justice Department has proposed a new domestic spying measure that would make it easier for state and local police to collect intelligence about Americans, share the sensitive data with federal agencies and retain it for at least 10 years.

Quietly unveiled late last month, the proposal is part of a flurry of domestic intelligence changes issued and planned by the Bush administration in its waning months. They include a recent executive order that guides the reorganization of federal spy agencies and a pending Justice Department overhaul of FBI procedures for gathering intelligence and investigating terrorism cases within U.S. borders.

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White Cop Indicted for Tasering an African American Man to Death
Posted by Steven D., Booman Tribune on August 15, 2008 at 3:21 PM.

You may recall my story last month about the Winnfield, La. African American man who died after a white police officer tasered him 9 times after he was already in custody. Well that police officer, Scott Nugent has now been indicted by a Winn Parrish Grand Jury for Pike's murder.

Ruling in a racially explosive case that some forensic experts have described as police torture, a grand jury in the small Louisiana town of Winnfield indicted a white police officer yesterday on charges of manslaughter and official malfeasance for repeatedly shocking a handcuffed black suspect with a Taser device, resulting in the man's death due to cardiac arrest.

After two days of closed testimony, Winn Parish district attorney Chris Nevils announced that the grand jury had indicted Scott Nugent, 21, for the death last January of Baron "Scooter" Pikes, 21, while in police custody. Two other Winnfield police officers who were present during the incident were not charged. [...]

"It is our intention to show at trial that Mr Nugent caused the death of Baron Pikes by 'Tasing' him multiple times, unnecessarily and in violation of Louisiana law, and by failing to get him medical attention when it was apparent he needed it," Nevils said in a statement. "In a civilised society, abuse by those who are given great authority cannot be tolerated."

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New Bill Would Lift Ban on Journalists Photographing Returning Military Dead
Posted by Faiz Shakir, Think Progress on August 15, 2008 at 10:03 AM.

A new bill would require the Department of Defense to "grant journalists access to ceremonies honoring fallen military personnel."

Introduced by Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) last month, the bill has six co-sponsors and won the endorsement of the National Press Photographers Association this week. The bill states:

The Secretary of Defense shall grant access to accredited members of the media at military commemoration ceremonies and memorial services conducted by the Armed Forces for members of the Armed Forces who have died on active duty and when the remains of members of the Armed Forces arrive at military installations in the United States.

The current Defense policy, which was updated in 2003, states that there shall be no "media coverage of" the returning war dead.

Tasers and Holding Cells: Denver Prepares for the DNC
Posted by Steven D., Booman Tribune on August 15, 2008 at 9:14 AM.

Dear Denver Residents and Visitors,

If I were you I wouldn't walk around anyplace near where the Democratic convention is being held this month or you might get swept up in a mass police arrest and held at a detention facility for no reason other than you were in the wrong place at the wrong time:

In Denver, police are preparing what a local political organizer calls a 'concentration camp,' laying in wait for mass arrests anticipated during the upcoming Democratic National Convention.

On Wednesday, a Denver CBS affiliate sent a news crew to crash the police department's improvised detention facility, found in a warehouse owned by the city on the north-east side of town.

"This is a building filled with metal holding cells," described reporter Rick Sallinger, introducing the segment. "We showed up at the facility unannounced today, the doors were wide open, and we managed to shoot for several minutes until a Denver sheriff's captain asked us to leave."

Footage of the warehouse revels tall, chain-link fence capped by barbed wire, and segmented pens each bearing an identifying letter at about shoulder height.

"Each of these fenced in areas is about five yards by five yards," said Sallinger. "There's a lock on the door. How long those arrested will be kept here is not known. A sign on the wall reads, 'Warning! Electric stun devices used in this facility.'

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FDR's Grandson Says Happy Birthday to Social Security by Knocking McCain
Posted by Jane Hamsher, Firedoglake on August 14, 2008 at 4:58 PM.

The AFL/CIO has a new flyer hammering John McCain on his wealth and his contempt for Social Security.

It's going out to seniors in battleground states and is part of a critical effort because as the WaPo notes, Obama has a voter age gap that could be troublesome in places like Pennsylvania. He may have the hearts of all voters ages 18-29 (63% nationwide), but with 33% of white voters over the age of 65 he's lagging behind Kerry 2004 (44%) and Gore 2000 (46%):

With polls showing Obama dominating among those under 40 and running even among middle-aged voters, Republican John McCain's lead among those 65 and older is the main reason he remains close overall. His margin is largest among older white voters without a college education, accounting for much of Obama's problem with the white working class.

(Click through to the flip side for a message from FDR's grandson)

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Mukasey Will Not Prosecute Bush Officials Who Politicized DOJ
Posted by Emptywheel, Firedoglake on August 12, 2008 at 1:03 PM.

In May of last year, I questioned whether, after Monica Goodling won immunity, we'd get anything from giving her immunity.

And as today's article explains, in that role she has done a number of things that clearly violate federal employment practices. She has denied promotions to people who appear to be Democrats, has asked partisan questions in interviews for career positions, and she asked one nice Republican if he had ever cheated on his wife.

We're about to excuse Monica all of these actions -- actions which span six years of efforts to politicize DOJ -- and in so doing, ensure that the IG investigation into these activities may expose further illegalities, but no actionable way to hold Goodling accountable for them. And what are going to get in exchange? What higher up is she going to deliver us, with her immunized testimony?

And in August of last year, I pointed out that all of the people who had politicized our government had resigned from the Administration -- and therefore given the Administration immunity for having turned our government into an instrument of the Republican party.

by The Washington Post, enlisting political appointees at every level of government in a permanent campaign that was an integral part of his strategy to establish Republican electoral dominance.

[snip]

Investigators, however, said the scale of Rove's effort is far broader than previously revealed; they say that Rove's team gave more than 100 such briefings during the seven years of the Bush administration. The political sessions touched nearly all of the Cabinet departments and a handful of smaller agencies that often had major roles in providing grants, such as the White House office of drug policy and the State Department's Agency for International Development.

Well, so what? What are you going to do about it?

See, for the most part, we're talking about civil Hatch Act violations. And the punishment for civil Hatch Act violations? To be fired from your job. Shall we review the names of those most involved in leading this process?

• Karl Rove
• Sara Taylor
• Scott Jennings
• Barry Jackson
• Ken Mehlman
• Susan Ralston

Rove, Taylor, Mehlman, and Ralston are gone, and Jackson is rumored to be leaving. Add in Monica Goodling, who only admitted to her massive Hatch Act violations after she resigned. So how are you going to hold the White House responsible for its massive Hatch Act violations, if the people involved have already mooted the only punishment available?

Today, Michael Mukasey announced no one would be charged for having politicized DOJ's hiring process, not even Monica Goodling:

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

The FBI Admits to Spying on NYT and WaPo Reporters in 2004
Posted by Spencer Ackerman, Attackerman on August 11, 2008 at 4:58 PM.

In the dull drone of a late Friday afternoon in Washington in August -- you know, when absolutely nothing happens? -- FBI Director Robert Muller called Bill Keller and Len Downie, executive editors of the New York Times and Washington Post, to inform them that in 2004, the bureau spied on reporters for their papers in Indonesia. Without warrants. Without even the approval of the deputy attorney general. Without, apparently, any good reason.

The records were apparently sought as part of a terrorism investigation, but the F.B.I. did not explain what was being investigated or why the reporters' phone records were considered relevant.

The Justice Department places a high bar on the collection of reporters' records in investigations because of First Amendment concerns, and obtaining such records requires the approval of the deputy attorney general. That requirement was not followed when the F.B.I. obtained the records of two reporters for The Times in Indonesia, Raymond Bonner and Jane Perlez, as well as two reporters there for The Post, Ellen Nakashima and Natasha Tampubolon, officials said.

Mueller -- who apologized to Downie and Keller -- didn't find the surveillance records on his own. The only reason he even had to disclose the spying was because Glenn Fine, the Justice Dept.'s inspector general, discovered it. All this happened in spite of what the FBI constantly says is its own rigorous civil-liberties protections in cases of so-called "exigent letters" -- demands for communications records made to telecom carriers that circumvent any judicial approval. The ACLU's Jameel Jaffer comments:

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Bush's Veterans Affairs Department Continues to Ban Voter Registration Drives at Veterans Facilities
Posted by Faiz Shakir, Think Progress on August 11, 2008 at 2:42 PM.

This past May, the Veterans Affairs Department, led by Secretary James Peake, issued a directive prohibiting nonpartisan voter registration drives “at federally financed nursing homes, rehabilitation centers and shelters for homeless veterans.” In today’s New York Times, Connecticut Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz writes, “What is the secretary of Veterans Affairs thinking?“:

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Bush White House Has Its Own Interrogation Room
Posted by Satyam, Think Progress on August 8, 2008 at 10:44 AM.

In Ron Suskind's new book, Suskind describes a disturbing case in Washington, D.C., where security officials detained and interrogated Usman Khosa, a Pakistani U.S. college graduate, because he was "fiddling" with his iPod near White House gates. Officials took Khosa to an interrogation room "beneath" the White House:

He turns as a large uniformed man lunges at him. The backpack!" the man yells, pushing Usman against the Italianate gates in front of Treasury and ripping off his backpack. Another officer on a bicycle arrives from somewhere and tears the backpack open, dumping its contents on the sidewalk.

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Cops Bust Into Mayor's Home, Shoot Dogs ... Was it a Set-Up?
Posted by Jill Hussein C., Brilliant at Breakfast on August 8, 2008 at 6:58 AM.

...and why the Bush Administration's treating the Constitution like "just a goddamn piece of paper" is so troubling: because "If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to worry about" often is not the case, as the mayor of Berwin Heights, Maryland found out recently.

I first found out about this story via Eric Rice, whose blog began with his efforts to help the dogs left behind in New Orleans in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina struck. But while initial coverage painted this as a drug bust, the truth is much darker:

Mayor Cheye Calvo got home from work, saw a package addressed to his wife on the front porch and brought it inside, putting it on a table.

Suddenly, police with guns drawn kicked in the door and stormed in, shooting to death the couple's two dogs and seizing the unopened package.

In it were 32 pounds of marijuana. But the drugs evidently didn't belong to the couple.

Police say the couple appeared to be innocent victims of a scheme by two men to smuggle millions of dollars worth of marijuana by having it delivered to about a half-dozen unsuspecting recipients.

The two men under arrest include a FedEx deliveryman; investigators said the deliveryman would drop off a package outside a home, and the other man would come by a short time later and pick it up.

Now, federal authorities say they're looking into how local law enforcement handled the July 29 raid. FBI Agent Rich Wolf said late Thursday that the bureau had opened a civil rights investigation into the case.

A furious Calvo said earlier Thursday that he and his wife, Trinity Tomsic, had asked the government to investigate.

"Trinity was an innocent victim and random victim," Calvo said outside his two-story, red-brick house in this middle-class Washington suburb of about 3,000 people. "We were harmed by the very people who took an oath to protect us."

Calvo insisted the couple's two black Labradors were gentle creatures and said police apparently killed them "for sport," gunning down one of them as it was running away.

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Bin Laden's Driver Gets 5 1/2 Years in Prison
Posted by dday, Hullabaloo on August 8, 2008 at 5:37 AM.

One of the most absurd trials in American history ended today when Salim Hamdan was sentenced to 5 1/2 years for "providing material support to terrorism" in his capacity as Osama bin Laden's driver. After seven years on the so-called war on terror, we have the guy who changed the oil to show for it, and we held him so long (he got time served) that he's eligible to leave in six months (not that the US government will comply). Mind you that material support for terrorism was not considered a war crime subject to a military tribunal at the time that Hamdan was bin Laden's driver. This is an ex post facto conviction based on the Military Commissions Act of 2006. And what a commission it was. ACSBlog notes:

Salim Hamdan, who is being held at the military's detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and served as Osama bin Laden's driver, was convicted by a military tribunal of providing material support for terrorism and acquitted of conspiracy charges, the New York Times reported. ACSBlog published reports from the trial by observers Sahr MuhammedAlly, Aaron Zissler, and Frank Kendall, who represented the organization Human Rights First.

The Associated Press reported "Hamdan's attorneys said the judge allowed evidence that would not have been admitted by any civilian or military U.S. court, and that interrogations at the center of the government's case were tainted by coercive tactics, including sleep deprivation and solitary confinement." [...]

Yesterday evening, Military Commission Judge Keith Allred acknowledged that he "may very well have instructed the [military commission jury] members erroneously," but the prosecution and defense apparently agreed to let the original jury instructions stand, the Times reported.

More than anything, this is embarrassing. And meanwhile, there's a whole new generation of tortured prisoners being held to this day:

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Gun Control Activist Actually Paid NRA Spy
Posted by David Neiwert, Firedoglake on August 7, 2008 at 5:13 AM.

Today's AP story about the NRA spy who infiltrated Ceasefire NJ, a major gun-control organization, was perfectly in line with classic right-wing gun-nut behavior.

One of the ways that the paranoid mindset endemic to the American right plays out is that they always wind up doing the very things they like to suspect the rest of us of -- like playing dirty tricks and infiltrating them. It's because they start out fearful, and then move on to imagining what those they fear might be doing to harm them, and those imaginings inevitably are built out of what they themselves might do in reversed positions ... all of which becomes a self-fulfilling rationale for doing it entirely on their own.

This is especially true of the gun culture. I grew up in it. I know.

Their integrity and honor -- you know, the kind of values they like proudly announce they're all about -- is showing, too, in the NRA's tight-lipped refusal to comment on the story. A press release on the purity of the essence of our bodily fluids is forthcoming, no doubt.

I think the comment from one of the spy's supposed friends said it all:

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