Legal Commentary

Ashcroft's Silence

Posted on May 22, 2008
Ashcroft's silence Scattered throughout Glenn Fine's 438-page report are mentions of people who made his job more difficult. On the very first page, he targets the Department of Defense which "delayed" the release of the report while it performed an....

"Borderline torture" and the FBI

Posted on May 21, 2008
The IG report on FBI interrogations is full of new details about a behind-the-scenes struggle over the use of harsh interrogation techniques for terror suspects. It?s an important document because it provides just enough new information to make key questions...

Illegal Cash: Currency Discriminates Against Blind

Posted on May 20, 2008
In a major ruling that could force changes to the nation?s currency, an influential federal appeals court ruled today that the uniform design of U.S. paper money discriminates against the blind and violates a federal disability law. The decision, by....

Unanswered Questions

Posted on May 20, 2008
The Justice Department has released the results of a three-year investigation into the FBI?s role in interrogating terror suspects overseas, and it raises nearly as many of the key questions as it answers. The report is more than 400 pages...

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Child Porn and the 1st Amendment

Posted on May 19, 2008
An interesting and important ruling from the Court today upholding a federal law banning the distribution or solicitation of child pornography. It?s obviously an area of growing concern, with advances in technology and easy transmission through the Internet...

Gay Marriage in Texas?

Posted on May 15, 2008
A key question after today's sweeping California Supreme Court decision striking down the state's gay marriage ban is what it means for the 48 other states that don't recognize gay marriage. If, for example, a gay married couple in California...

O'Connor: The Pain of Alzheimer's

Posted on May 14, 2008
Sandra Day O'Connor, the trailblazing first woman Justice, sat down with me yesterday for a moving conversation about Alzheimer's Disease and how it has affected her life. It was the first time she's discussed the horrific disease from her perspective...

Former DOJ Official Yoo Refuses to Testify

Posted on April 22, 2008
Former Justice Department lawyer John Yoo, who wrote the controversial legal memos authorizing harsh interrogation programs, will not testify voluntarily before the House Judiciary Committee -- paving the way for a possible subpoena and showdown over Executive Privilege...

"The Principals" of Interrogation

Posted on April 10, 2008
This is a link to a my World News story last night that I've spent the last five months reporting. It's about what sources said was the role of some of the President's most senior and influential advisers--Principals of the...

Torture

Posted on April 02, 2008
A few points on the long-awaited, just-released ?torture memo" authorizing harsh military interrogations: --This is THE torture memo that civil liberties groups and Senate Democrats have been demanding for years. A similar memo leaked several years ago that authorized harsh...

Torture in Daylight

Posted on April 02, 2008
Now that we've finally gotten the long-renounced and repudiated 2003 torture memo authorizing harsh interrogation techniques by the military, there are obvious questions about what took the White House so long to release it--and why. In fact, there were some...

The Gift That Keeps on Giving

Posted on March 31, 2008
It was pretty quiet at the Court today, so I figured I'd use the time to call your attention to one of the Chief's favorite cases. It made a big appearance in his opinion last week in Medellin v. Texas,...

Mukasey's Brief

Posted on March 25, 2008
Talk about rising to the occasion?and then quickly sitting down. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, making his first-ever argument before the Supreme Court this morning, stood before the justices, answered their questions, and then?when things started slowing down--asked if they had...

In Sight

Posted on March 18, 2008
After 90 minutes of intense argument this morning in the 2nd Amendment case, here are a few bullet points: ---A majority of the justices clearly seemed to embrace the idea that the 2nd Amendment protects an individual right to own...

The Court's Gun Battle

Posted on March 18, 2008
When a man tried to break into her house one night, Shelly Parker -- a single woman living alone -- felt defenseless. "I had the alarm system, had the dog. And I was like, ok, my next step is that...

Dirty Words

Posted on March 17, 2008
Holy @$#%! Here?s a surprise: The Supreme Court is going to hear some bad language. The justices announced today they?re going to take up the issue of profanity on network television?and whether it?s OK for President Bush to use the...

Lining up for Guns

Posted on March 16, 2008
The landmark legal battle over the 2nd Amendment is still two days?and two cold nights?away. But people already are waiting in line to get a prized seat in the courtroom for the historic arguments. Jason McCrory, 23, and Dan Mott,...

Spitzer -- Possible Financial Crimes

Posted on March 11, 2008
New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer has said his alleged tie to a prostitution ring is a "private" matter, but charges against him could extend well past prostitution. Because Spitzer's bank notified the government of suspicious financial activity in his accounts...

Choice

Posted on March 05, 2008
Of all the conversations I?ve had with Justice O?Connor over the years, one of the most interesting and provocative was a personal one. It involved the issue of choice. I?ve been thinking about it a lot lately, because it says...

Oil and water

Posted on February 28, 2008
One thing was clear after the argument before the Supreme Court in the Exxon Valdez case: It's absolutely unclear how the Court is going to resolve it. For 90 minutes, the justices struggled to come up with a framework for...

Sex, Lies and Regulation?

Posted on February 21, 2008
Let?s leave aside, for a moment, the obvious questions about whether the New York Times committed journalistic malpractice by relying on unnamed sources to imply John McCain was sleeping with a woman 30 years his junior?and then, as a favor...

Obama and Guns

Posted on February 15, 2008
A day after the tragic shootings at NIU, Barack Obama has revealed that he thinks the 2nd Amendment protects an individual?s right to own a gun. That sounds surprising?and certainly not what you?d expect from someone with the Senate?s most...

Does terror trump torture?

Posted on February 12, 2008
We all know Justice Antonin Scalia is a big fan of 24's Jack Bauer, the fictional hero of the popular television show who sometimes tortures terrorists to derail their fiendish plots and save lives. Scalia mounted a spirited defense of...

More Ammo for Gun Rights

Posted on February 07, 2008
Momentum is building for gun rights supporters in next month?s big 2nd Amendment case, with a bipartisan majority in the Senate and House filing an amicus brief in the Supreme Court tomorrow arguing that the 2nd Amendment protects an individual?s...

No Gun Quickdraw

Posted on January 16, 2008
It looks like the 2nd Amendment showdown at the Supreme Court isn?t shaping up exactly like we expected. I, for one, sure didn?t think gun rights supporters would be up in arms, so to speak, over the Bush Administration?s position...

Kennedy's Turn Signals

Posted on December 06, 2007
Throughout yesterday?s argument in the Guantanamo detainee cases, all eyes were focused, of course, on Justice Kennedy. With the Court presumably divided 4-4 along ideological lines, Kennedy once again is at the wheel, deciding where he?s going to take the...

The Evil at GTMO

Posted on December 05, 2007
When I was getting ready for a trip to Guantanamo Bay last week, I read an article written last year by a young interpreter (and now lawyer) who was working with some of the attorneys for the detainees. Titled ?My...

A Christmas Caution

Posted on November 27, 2007
The Christmas music was playing last night, and the tree was halfway lit (I know it?s only November, but Thanksgiving was really early this year), when my 10-year-old daughter shrieked. ?Mom,? she screamed, ?these lights can kill us.? I knew...

Firing Questions

Posted on November 26, 2007
The other day I spent most of the morning with a .38 in my hand. It was very similar to the handgun I learned to shoot in Alabama many years ago, when I was single, childless and, of course, a...

An execution or a reprieve?

Posted on October 30, 2007
At some point today, convicted killer Earl Wesley Berry will either die or get a reprieve. The Mississippi man is scheduled to be put to death at 6 p.m. CDT, but he?s asked the Supreme Court to step in and...

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