Category: Law Page 21 of 27

David Kurtz points out that it’s Law Day, U.S.A!   Putting aside the question of why U.S.A. is tacked on (perhaps it’s a form of Clapping Louder?), we’ll get straight to the amusing part.  President Bush proclaims that:

“The Rule of Law: Foundation for Communities of Opportunity and Equity,” recognizes the fundamental role that the rule of law plays in preserving liberty in our Nation and in all free societies.

Heh.  I suppose this is a perfect follow-up to George’s recent Pope-visit-inspired speech about the sanctity of life.

I think this Washington Post article on the Federal government’s inability to secure convictions in its “terrorism” cases misses the mark.  The problem, as I see it, isn’t the “early prosecution” strategy taken by the FBI/DOJ, but calling them “terrorism” cases in the first place.   For example, one of the guys recently escaped conviction in Miami had:

confided [to his grocer] that he wanted to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago, which would then fall into a nearby prison, freeing Muslim prisoners who would become the core of his Moorish army. With them, he would establish his own country.

Certifiable lunatic?  Probably.  Real live terrorist?  Hardly.  Over and over again, we get fantastic announcements about big busts of scary terrorist plots.  And then we later find out it was a bunch of incompetent idiots who couldn’t shoplift, nevermind pull off an actual act of terrorism.

Executions, by country, for 2007:

China: 470+
Iran: 317+
Saudi: 143+
Pakistan: 135+
USA: 42
Iraq: 33+
Vietnam: 25+
Yemen: 15+
Afghanistan: 15
Libya: 9+
Japan: 9
Syria: 7+
Sudan: 7+
Bangladesh: 6
Somalia: 5+
Equatorial Guinea: 3
Singapore: 2
Kuwait: 1+
Indonesia: 1+
Botswana: 1+
Belarus: 1+
Ethiopia: 1

“+” after a number indicates that the figure is a minimum one. The true figure is at least the figure shown. For example, “47+” means that there were at least 47 executions in 2007.

So the Wall Street Journal’s got a story highlighting the ACLU’s role in assembling defense teams for Guantanamo Bay detainees:

The American Civil Liberties Union is spearheading a high-profile effort to defend Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other alleged 9/11 conspirators from conviction and execution by the Bush administration’s military commissions at Guantanamo Bay.

Backed by a slate of prominent legal figures, including former Attorney General Janet Reno and former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director William Webster, the ACLU has assembled a team of top civilian attorneys to supplement the military defense counsel assigned to represent Guantanamo’s “high-value detainees.”

I suspect that the ACLU is a little worried about the PR aspect of this, as they just mass emailed a statement about the story.  I think they put it perfectly:

The manner in which we seek justice against those accused of harming us will determine whether the United States will be seen at home and abroad as a nation of laws. We must decide whether we live the values of justice that make us proud to be Americans, or whether we will forsake those values and continue down a path of arbitrary rules and procedures more befitting those who are our enemies. Because we are a great nation, true to our founders’ vision, we must uphold our core values even in the toughest of times. The right to a speedy trial in a court of law before an objective arbiter; the right to due process; the right to rebut the evidence against you; the right not to be tortured or waterboarded, or convicted on the basis of hearsay evidence are what truly define America and our commitment to the rule of law and our founders’ aspirations.

The military commissions set up by the Bush administration for the men imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay — including those it suspects were involved in the September 11 attacks — are not true American justice. These trials should represent who we are, what America stands for, and our commitment to due process. They are not about how civilized the accused are, but how civilized we are. America does not stand for trials that rely on torture to gain confessions, or on secret evidence that a defendant cannot rebut, or on hearsay evidence.

For these reasons, the ACLU and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers have taken on the task of assembling defense teams to be available to assist in the representation of those Guantánamo detainees who have been charged under the Military Commissions Act, subject to the detainees’ consent.

We take this step because we simply cannot stand by and allow the Bush administration’s military commissions to make a mockery of our Constitution and our values. We believe in the American justice system — despite its imperfections and distortions by pundits, politicians and ideologues — and we believe we can make the system stronger by engaging it and fighting for what is right, fighting for fair trials and for America’s reputation.

Amen.