NewsTrust - Law - Most Recent Stories: Opinion

Things Not to Be Thankful For - Silverdome, Goldman Sachs & Congressional Recess

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Daily Show - By Jon Stewart - Nov. 20 (Comedy News) - Detroit sells its Silverdome for less than a one-bedroom apartment, Goldman Sachs reports huge profits, and three congressmen warn New Yorkers of terrorism.

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The Logic of the 9/11 Trials, the Madness of the Military Commissions

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

TruthOut - By Andy Worthington - Nov. 19 (Opinion) - the very existence of a two-tier judicial system should be enough to set alarm bells ringing, as it suggests - quite correctly, I believe - that the government is hedging its bets when it comes to justice, proceeding with federal court trials when it believes that it will secure successful prosecutions, and reserving the commissions for other cases in which it fears that it may fail, because the evidence is not only contaminated by the use of torture, but is also weak.

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The right's nonsensical arguments against trying Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in New York.

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Slate - By Dahlia Lithwick - Nov. 17 (Opinion) - Opposition to the Obama administration's plan to try alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his confederates in a federal court in New York City is hardening into two camps. One is concerned that we may be unwittingly playing into the terrorists' hands. The other is incensed that we already have. What both camps share, besides a kind of unhinged logic and complete disregard for the legal process, is an obsessive fascination with the accused. The result is a broad willingness to sacrifice our commitment to legal principles in favor of the symbolic satisfaction of crushing the hopes and dreams of a motley group of criminals.

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The Right's textbook "surrender to terrorists"

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Salon - By Glenn Greenwald - Nov. 15 (Opinion) - This is literally true: the Right's reaction to yesterday's announcement -- we're too afraid to allow trials and due process in our country -- is the textbook definition of "surrendering to terrorists." It's the same fear they've been spewing for years. As always, the Right's tough-guy leaders wallow in a combination of pitiful fear and cynical manipulation of the fear of their followers. Indeed, it's hard to find any group of people on the globe who exude this sort of weakness and fear more than the American Right.

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Accept the facts – and end this futile 'war on drugs'

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The Independent - By Johann Hari - Nov. 10 (Opinion) - The prohibitionists are – from the best intentions and the highest motives – unleashing a catastrophe. Human beings have been finding ways to get stoned or high since we lived in caves. In our attempt to end this natural impulse, we have created a problem worse than drug use itself.

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Gestapo Knocks at Door of Northwestern University Journalism School

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Judge H. Lee Sarokin - Oct. 25 (Opinion) - I am always offended and annoyed with the labeling of some recent conduct or person with Nazism or Hitler or drawing analogies with the Holocaust...

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Jon Stewart Takes On 30 Republicans Who Voted Against Franken Rape Amendment (VIDEO)

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By The Huffington Post News Team - Oct. 15 (Comedy News) - In 2005, Jamie Leigh Jones was gang-raped by her Halliburton/KBR co-workers while working in Iraq and locked in a shipping container for over a day...

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Defunding The Real Criminal Enterprises

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

OurFuture.org - By Brian Dockstader - Oct. 09 (Opinion) - While conservatives ravenously pounced on the opportunity to defund the network of community organizations committed to helping and empowering low-income communities (most egregiously by trying to help them participate in their own democracy), they happily and predictably turned a blind eye to the mass levels of fraud, criminality and assorted malfeasance that have been committed by their dear corporate benefactors over the years.

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Why women might make better judges

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Slate - By Stephen Choi, Mitu Gulati, Mirya Holman, Eric Posner - Oct. 05 (Opinion) - Justice Sonia Sotomayor's elevation to the Supreme Court brought to the surface a long-simmering controversy about the relationship between gender and judging. Are female nominees for judicial positions chosen based on affirmative action? If so, are women on the bench worse judges than men—or do they come with advantages that men lack? This controversy has legs. If Justice Ginsburg is forced to retire this term because of illness, reducing the number of female justices from two to one, there will be a great deal of pressure on President Obama to nominate another female jurist. Or if Justice John Paul Stevens retires, why not three women on the high court?

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The Meaning of Freedom

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - Sep. 29 (Editorial) - The question is far from academic, as illustrated poignantly by the case of brothers Bahtiyar Mahnut and Arkin Mahmud. As reported by The Post's Del Quentin Wilber, the brothers are Uighurs, Chinese Muslims who face oppression, intimidation and often

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Jeffrey Toobin

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The Colbert Report - By Jeffrey Toobin - Sep. 21 (Interview) - Jeffrey Toobin, author of "The Nine," takes Stephen inside the world of the Supreme Court and reveals whether they have secret handshakes.

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We must stop the 'vulture funds' that feed on the world's poor

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The Independent - By Johann Hari - Sep. 18 (Opinion) - Would you ever march up to a destitute African who is shivering with Aids and demand he "pay back" tens of thousands of pounds he didn't borrow – with interest? I only ask because this is in effect happening, here, in British and American courts, time after time. Some of the richest people in the world are making profit margins of 500 per cent by shaking money out of the poorest people in the world – for debt they did not incur.

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Fear was no excuse to condone torture

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Miami Herald - By Charles C. Krulak, Joseph P. Hoar - Sep. 15 (Opinion) - In the fear that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Americans were told that defeating Al Qaeda would require us to ``take off the gloves.'' As a former commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps and a retired commander-in-chief of U.S. Central Command, we knew that was a recipe for disaster. But we never imagined that we would feel duty-bound to publicly denounce a vice president of the United States, a man who has served our country for many years. In light of the irresponsible statements recently made by former Vice President Dick Cheney, however, we feel we must repudiate his dangerous ideas -- and his scare tactics.

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David Cole on "The Torture Memos: Rationalizing the Unthinkable"

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Sharif Abdel Kouddous, Amy Goodman, David Cole - Sep. 15 (Opinion) - Legal scholar and attorney David Cole looks at the story behind the infamous Bush administration torture memos. Cole argues the memos show that the United States government’s top attorneys were instrumental in rationalizing acts of torture and cruelty, employing chillingly twisted logic and Orwellian reasoning to authorize what the law absolutely forbids.

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Beating Up Thurgood Marshall

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

TruthOut - By Sam Ferguson - Sep. 14 (Opinion) - Based on the tenor of the argument yesterday at the Supreme Court in Citizens United v. FEC, the Supreme Court is poised to overrule the 1990 decision in Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce. If they do, corporations will be allowed to use general treasury funds to run advertisements and campaign on behalf of federal candidates. Corporate cash will flood our elections and special interests will be enshrined in the Constitution. But the blow will not just be to the proponents of campaign finance reform. It will be a stinging uppercut to the legacy of Justice Thurgood Marshall.

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Campaign-spending case will be a big test for Chief Justice Roberts

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Seattle Times - By E. J. Dionne - Sep. 08 (Opinion) - The full impact of what the U.S. Supreme Court could do in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission has only begun to receive the attention it deserves. Will the court use a case originally brought on a narrow issue to bring our politics back to the corruption of the Gilded Age?

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Treatment of prisoner dents Obama promise to end such practices

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Seattle Times - By Leonard Pitts Jr. - Aug. 31 (Opinion) - No, this does not match the worst abuses of the Bush era, but it is close enough that it must surely disillusion and dismay those who thought a corner was turned on Jan. 20. It must leave them hoping that faith was not misplaced. Sometimes a dented promise is worse than no promise at all.

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Kennedy's Death and the Push for Legislation

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Change.org - By Tim Foley - Aug. 31 (Opinion) - The man was only working on one issue and one bill in the final year of his life, one he described as, “It is a cause that knows no boundary of party, region, or philosophy. It is a cause that can and should unite us all as Americans.” To mention the cause of his life is to politicize his death?

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Thomas Paine v. the Right's torture defenders

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Salon - By Glenn Greenwald - Aug. 28 (Opinion) - For anyone who believes in the basic principles of the founding, the fact that these acts of torture are illegal -- felonies -- ought to end the discussion about whether they were justified.

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Is half a torture investigation better than none at all?

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Slate - By Dahlia Lithwick - Aug. 26 (Opinion) - Holder has fallen prey to the sort of magical legal thinking that seeps through the whole CIA report: the presumption that if there's a legal memo, it must be legal.

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What every American should be made to learn about the IG Torture Report

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Salon - By Glenn Greenwald - Aug. 25 (Opinion) - I wrote earlier today about Eric Holder's decision to "review" whether criminal prosecutions are warranted in connection with the torture of Terrorism suspects -- that can be read here -- but I want to write separately about the release today of the 200

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The Government and the Web

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - Aug. 25 (Editorial) - The government must build robust privacy protections into any tracking technology used on government Web sites.

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Nadler: Obama Violating Law By Not Investigating Bush

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Sam Stein - Aug. 21 (Opinion) - New York Congressman Jerry Nadler, a senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, told the Huffington Post that he believed that President Obama would be breaking the law if he decided to oppose launching investigation into the authorization of torture. "If they follow the law they have no choice," Nadler said in an interview this past weekend.

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CIA Hired Private Military Firm Blackwater for Secret Assassination Program

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman, Juan Gonzalez, Jeremy Scahill - Aug. 20 (Interview) - The New York Times is reporting the CIA hired contractors from Blackwater in 2004 as part of a secret program to locate and assassinate top operatives of al-Qaeda. The CIA spent several million dollars on the program, which the Times claims did not successfully capture or kill any terrorist suspects. We speak to independent journalist Jeremy Scahill, author of the bestseller Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army.

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Lockerbie: Has an innocent man been locked up?

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

National Review - By Tom Gross - Aug. 20 (Opinion) - there are serious concerns that he is innocent. Indeed there are those in Israeli intelligence and the CIA who have long believed that Libya was not behind the attack, and it was actually carried out by the PLO splinter group the PFLP-GC, acting on Iran’s orders. They believe that the Lockerbie bomb timing devices were manufactured in a PFLP-GC workshop on the outskirts of Damascus.

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