Military court to review Abu Ghraib conviction

By GottaLaff

Well now, if BushCo said it was okay, then it was okay:

The U.S. military's highest court says it will review the conviction of an Army reservist [former Cpl. Charles Graner Jr. ] who prosecutors said was the ringleader of detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. [...]

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces in Washington said Tuesday it will consider whether the trial judge erred by refusing to let jurors see memos approving "enhanced interrogation tactics" for detainees.

I guess it was just too, too harsh, punishing an abuser for stacking naked prisoners in pyramids and photographing them while they were being forced to masturbate in front of others.

Especially with permission.... given by the same group of thugs that ordered and wrote the memos that made torture hunky dory in the first place.

Here's an idea: Convict the group of thugs.

*****

All my previous posts on this subject matter can be found here; That link includes one specific to only Fayiz al-Kandari's story here. Here are audio and video interviews with Lt. Col. Wingard, one by David Shuster, one by Ana Marie Cox, and more. My guest commentary at BuzzFlash is here.

Lt. Col. Barry Wingard is a military attorney who represents Fayiz Al-Kandari in the Military Commission process and in no way represents the opinions of his home state. When not on active duty, Colonel Wingard is a public defender in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

If you are inclined to help rectify these injustices: Twitterers, use the hashtag #FreeFayiz. We have organized a team to get these stories out. If you are interested in helping Fayiz out, e-mail me at The Political Carnival, address in sidebar to the right; or tweet me at @GottaLaff.

If you'd like to see other ways you can take action, go here and scroll down to the end of the article.

Then read Jane Mayer's book The Dark Side. You'll have a much greater understanding of why I post endlessly about this, and why I'm all over the CIA deception issues, too.

More of Fayiz's story here, at Answers.com.

Biden: US to appeal dismissal of Blackwater charges

By GottaLaff

Paddy's computer is being eaten alive by evil intruders, and I'm still under the weather, so please bear with us.

That said, let's talk Blackwater. They never cease to provide us with mounds of controversy. Allow me to quote myself:

I previously posted about how much an Iraqi life is worth to Blackwater. And prior to that, I posted about charges being dismissed against them in the deadly 2007 shooting.

In fact, every post I write about Blackwater is jam packed with death and destruction, ethics vacuums, and overall creepiness. And yet the U.S. government still has them on their payroll.

Veep Biden made noises about an appeal, and whaddya know! He kept his noisy promise:

Speaking at a joint appearance with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani in Baghdad, Biden said he was "disappointed" with the ruling, and that the Justice Department would file the appeal next week.

The September 2007 shootout in Baghdad's Nusoor Square left 17 Iraqis dead and two dozen wounded.

I hope they get somewhere with this. I'd love to write up a post with a happy ending for a change.

BREAKING: Court blocks video coverage of Prop. 8 trial

By GottaLaff

Breaking via an L.A. Times news alert:

Court blocks video coverage of Prop. 8 trial

The Supreme Court today blocked video coverage of the trial in San Francisco testing the constitutionality of California's Prop. 8 and its ban on same-sex marriage.

The court acted on an emergency appeal filed Saturday by the lawyers defending Prop. 8. They said their rights to a fair trial could be jeopardized if the proceedings were put on YouTube.

More soon at: http://www.latimes.com

Banging head on nearest wall.

Group challenges phone companies’ wiretapping immunity

By GottaLaff

The BushCo wiretaps are being challenged again. Good:

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is appealing, on behalf of several plaintiffs, a June federal court decision that upheld legislation that protects the companies, who acted without court authorization, from being prosecuted. [...]

EFF argues that the legislation is "unconstitutional" because it grants "the attorney general the unconstrained power to decide whether to nullify existing federal and state law governing these actions." [...]

EFF, a privacy group that focuses on civil rights on the Internet, is working with the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of 46 plaintiffs to challenge the legislation.

After 9/11, it was "anything goes". BushCo used fear tactics to advance their greedy little power grabs, secrecy, and otherwise criminal and unconstitutional agenda at every opportunity they had.

And that included eavesdropping on fellow Americans.

Senate confirms Judge David Hamilton 59-39

By GottaLaff

About time!

The Senate confirmed Judge David Hamilton to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals 59-39 Thursday after breaking a GOP filibuster Tuesday and a five-and-a-half month delay.

Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), who represents Hamilton's home state of Indiana, casted the lone Republican vote for the judge.

This obstructionism by the Rushpublic party not only got in the way of the vote, it got in the way of something much bigger: democracy.

This gumming up the works has gotten out of hand, and it is further destroying the GOP. On the bright side, who needs opposition research when they do such a good job destroying their own credibility?

Coleman's Appeal Brief: Count More Of My Votes -- Or Maybe Nullify The Election

By GottaLaff

Whatcha been smokin', Toker Norm? Take a look at what he wants the state Supreme Court to consider:

To preferably count more ballots that are presumably for Coleman, or else subtract ballots that are presumably for Franken, or declare the whole election null. [...]

In one passage, the choices are phrased succinctly.
"If the trial court's standard is the correct one," it says, "the Court would have to remand for a proportionate reduction of the vote tally on a precinct-by-precinct basis or, more likely, a determination by the trial court that on this record it cannot certify a winner."

Another choice is offered: "on the other hand, if the trial court is not free to impose its strict compliance standard ... then common law and the same constitutional guarantees dictate the remaining uncounted absentee ballots be judged by the same substantial compliance standard, meaning that on remand thousands more absentee ballots would be counted."

The brief makes clear that "Coleman urges the Court to choose the latter approach," but nullifying the election is still held out as an escape hatch of sorts.

The Franken reply brief is due by May 11.

Because allowing Minnesotans to have full Senate representation is wrong. Clearly.

Final Ruling Is In: Coleman vs. Franken

By GottaLaff

Via The Up Take:

The three-judge panel has issued their final ruling in the Minnesota Election Contest. The Coleman case has been "dismissed with prejudice." Document is here. The live blog will be open until about 7 PM CDT tonight (Monday) to discuss the ruling, and starting at 11 AM CDT tomorrow morning. We'll also have in-depth analysis from The UpTake team, live press conferences from the campaigns and other live coverage.

I'll update soon. Let's see how long Toker Norm can drag this out with his appeals.

UPDATE from the Up Take, via Twitter:

tribunal does NOT order issue of election certificate but does posit Franken is "entitled to it"

Somebody who knows the law... please explain in English what the document says?

UPDATE via Commenter David G.: The justices awarded Al Franken court costs. Hellz yeah!

Joshua is angry

By GottaLaff

I love the Joshua Blog. Joshua is a cool guy who is responsive to my Tweets on The Twitter Machine. I went over to his place, and I found a very angry Joshua. He has graciously invited me to copy and paste his entire post:

Now I'm really starting to get pissed off. What the hell is he thinking?! He refused to go after Bush officials for torture, he embraces Bush's executive power grab and protects the domestic spying program and it's telecom conspirators, blackmailed by the Senate GOPers with filibusters his appointees & threatened by the CIA with God only know what, he decides not to release the torture memos as planned and now this bullshit?!

From the NY Times:

Obama to Appeal Detainee Ruling

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration said Friday that it would appeal a district court ruling that granted some military prisoners in Afghanistan the right to file lawsuits seeking their release. The decision signaled that the administration was not backing down in its effort to maintain the power to imprison terrorism suspects for extended periods without judicial oversight.

In a court filing, the Justice Department also asked District Judge John D. Bates not to proceed with the habeas-corpus cases of three detainees at Bagram Air Base outside Kabul, Afghanistan. Judge Bates ruled last week that the three — each of whom says he was seized outside of Afghanistan — could challenge their detention in court.

Tina Foster, the executive director of the International Justice Network, which is representing the detainees, condemned the decision in a statement.

“Though he has made many promises regarding the need for our country to rejoin the world community of nations, by filing this appeal, President Obama has taken on the defense of one of the Bush administration’s unlawful policies founded on nothing more than the idea that might makes right,” she said.

read more

NOT OK.

Joshua has a point. I really don't want to get this upset with President Obama, he's really terrific in so many ways... but regarding these topics, I'm starting to simmer. I'm still in wait-and-see mode before I get to the same boiling point as Joshua, but right now, I don't like what I'm seeing while I wait.

Let's hope there's more to this than meets the eye, and that we will feel some sense of relief, not dread or vindication for our outrage.

Norm Coleman's Chances Not So Good at Supreme Court

By GottaLaff

Remember "One is the Loneliest Number"? Apparently "59 is the Scariest Number":

With Al Franken (D) increasing his lead over Norm Coleman (R) yesterday, Bloomberg skips ahead to evaluate Coleman's odds if he appeals all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"Coleman's dwindling chances of reclaiming his U.S. Senate seat largely depend on a broad reading of the Supreme Court's Bush v. Gore decision, a ruling the court itself said should be applied sparingly... Indeed, the high court has yet to cite Bush v. Gore in the 600-plus rulings it has released since then, and lower courts generally have proven reluctant to use the ruling as grounds for invalidating state voting procedures."

And yes, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports Coleman will appeal the final vote tally.

Stop. Just stop. Losers have to know when to stop. So.... stop.

Court reduces sentence for Iraqi shoe-thrower

By GottaLaff

Here's an idea: How about throwing the guy who started the fraudulent Iraq war into jail, too:

Iraq's federal appeals court has reduced the sentence for the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at then-President Bush at a news conference in December, his lawyer told CNN on Tuesday.

Muntadhar al-Zaidi now will serve one year in jail instead of three, the attorney said. Bush was able to duck, and was unhurt in the incident. [...]

Al-Zaidi's lawyer, Dhiaa al-Saadi, said the appeals court announced its decision to reduce the sentence Monday, after lawyers appealed the criminal court ruling. [...]

Al-Zaidi became a kind of hero after his actions, because of Bush's unpopularity — mainly as a result of the Iraq War. Expressing their own freedom on Facebook, a worldwide fan base rose up. Supporters formed hundreds of fan pages and groups, including one called the "Shoe-Throwing Appreciation Society."

Court of Appeals Denies DOJ Attempt to Hide Evidence of Warrantless Wiretapping

By GottaLaff

An appeals court disagrees with the Obama Department of Justice on the subject of wiretapping:

A U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco today rejected the Obama Justice Department’s attempt to continue to conceal evidence of warrantless wiretapping. [...]

[T]he government filed an emergency appeal last week hoping to halt the release of documents showing that the National Security Agency, under President George W. Bush, had secretly wiretapped the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation [...] Al-Haramain and its lawyers, who claim they were also wiretapped, need the documents (which they’ve already seen because the government released it accidentally) to proceed with their lawsuit against government officials.

Today, they got a significant step closer. [...]

The Ninth Circuit’s refusal to consider the emergency appeal is significant because it also leaves the district court’s ruling in effect. The lower court had rejected the government’s argument that the “state secrets privilege” allows executive agencies to disregard the requirements of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Court sides with ACLU, strikes down Patriot Act gag provision

By GottaLaff

Oh, this feels so good, like a back rub:

A federal appeals court ruling late Monday is the cause celebre of the American Civil Liberties Union, as another provision of the Bush administration's Patriot Act falls to the judicial system.

Until the ruling, recipients of so-called "national security letters" were legally forbidden from speaking out. The letters, usually a demand for documents, or a notice that private records had been searched by government authorities, were criticized as a cover-all for FBI abuses.

"The appeals court invalidated parts of the statute that wrongly placed the burden on NSL recipients to initiate judicial review of gag orders, holding that the government has the burden to go to court and justify silencing NSL recipients," said the ACLU in a release. "The appeals court also invalidated parts of the statute that narrowly limited judicial review of the gag orders – provisions that required the courts to treat the government's claims about the need for secrecy as conclusive and required the courts to defer entirely to the executive branch."

Because of the ruling, the government will now be forced to justify individual gag orders before a court, instead of casually wielding the power of a blanket gag as the Bush administration has done since the blindingly fast passage of the Patriot Act in Oct. 2001.

Incremental CPR for democracy.

Dear President Obama: Please do something about the conservative appeals courts

By GottaLaff

It's too late, isn't it...

Love, Laffy

Conservatives Have Reshaped Appeals Courts
Mr. Bush had appointed six of the seven judges in the conservative majority. His administration has transformed the nation’s federal appeals courts, advancing a conservative legal revolution that began nearly three decades ago under Ronald Reagan. [...]

While a two-term president typically leaves his stamp on the appeals courts — Bill Clinton appointed 65 judges, Mr. Bush 61 — Mr. Bush’s judges were among the youngest ever nominated and are poised to have an unusually strong impact.

They have arrived at a time when the appeals courts, which decide tens of thousands of cases a year, are increasingly getting the last word. While the Supreme Court gets far more attention, in recent terms it has reviewed only about 75 cases a year—half what it considered a generation ago. And Mr. Bush’s appointees have found allies in likeminded judges named by Mr. Bush’s father and Mr. Reagan.

Republican-appointed judges, most conservatives, are projected to make up about 62 percent of the bench next Inauguration Day, up from 50 percent when Mr. Bush took office. They control 10 of the 13 circuits, while Democrat-appointed judges have a dwindling majority on just one circuit.

David M. McIntosh, a co-founder and vice-chairman of the Federalist Society, said the nation’s appeals courts are now more in line with a conservative judicial ideology than at any other time in memory.

Dear Laffy,

I'll try.

Love, Barack

An Obama victory could roll back the Republican advantage on the appeals courts and even create a Democratic majority by 2013, according to a study of potential upcoming vacancies by Russell Wheeler of the Brookings Institution. But if Mr. McCain wins, Republicans could achieve commanding majorities on all 13 circuits.

November 4th.