Legal Commentary

Thursday Morning Open Thread

By Jeralyn

Things have been a whirlwind online the past two days, between Hillary's win in West Virginia and John Edwards' endorsement of Barack Obama in Michigan.

There are other things going on in the world, such as, the Pentagon is trying to keep the five charged Gitmo Detainees from preparing for their military commission trial with their lawyers. The ACLU has the details.

The American Civil Liberties Union expressed outrage today at the Pentagon's announcement of a June 5 date for the arraignment of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other detainees accused of crimes related to September 11 before all of the defendants have met with their prospective lawyers.

According to the Military Commissions Act, defendants must go before the military commission within 30 days of the formal filing of charges. The Pentagon just announced charges against the five detainees yesterday.

Private defense lawyers have signed on and are ready to go. But the Pentagon is delaying their security clearances. ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero says,

It is extremely disturbing — though not surprising — that the government is brazenly disregarding the rights of the accused without any consideration for due process. This approach will only add to the illegitimacy of the military commissions, which are inherently unfair, fundamentally flawed and make a mockery of our Constitution and American values. Moreover, the government's failure to provide the necessary clearances to lawyers seeking to represent the Guantánamo detainees prior to arraignment is, predictably enough, another example of its attempt to subvert justice and tip the scales in its favor."

Now what's going on in your neck of the woods? This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on May 15, 2008 (boomark / email).