First he questions Federal authority for roving wiretaps [h/t The American Prospect ]: In late September, during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota made a great show of questioning whether the roving wiretap provisions of the PATRIOT Act were constitutional. He read the Fourth Amendment, which guards against unreasonable search and seizure, aloud to a stunned Assistant Attorney General David Kris. Franken noted that the amendment contains "pretty explicit language" about such intrusions and asked Kris whether he thought the roving wiretap provision fit that standard. "This is surreal," Kris responded before going into a technical explanation of the legal justifications for roving wiretaps. But then he votes for the bill, anyway: Last week, the administration outmaneuvered most congressional efforts to strengthen civil-liberties protections in the PATRIOT Act reauthorization, inserted provisions in the Homeland Security appropriations ...

Four months ago I ran a post celebrating the US military JAG officers whose conscience has compelled them to fight against torture, weak evidence, and a morally bankrupt system of military tribunals . It's nice to finally see the MSM catching up to at least part of the story .

He writes thus about health insurance reform protesters: What we're seeing here is not merely distrust in the House health-care reform bill. It's distrust in the political system. A healthy relationship does not require an explicit detailing of the "institutional checks" that will prevent one partner from beating or killing the other. In a healthy relationship, such madness is simply unthinkable. If it was not unthinkable, then no number of institutional checks could repair that relationship. Similarly, the relationship between the protesters and the government is not healthy. The protesters believe the government capable of madness. There is no evidence for that claim, which means that there is no answer for it, either. That claim is not about what is in this bill, or what government has done in Medicare and Medicaid and the VA. It is about what a certain slice of Americans think their government -- and by extension, their fellow citizens -- capable of. It is perhaps...

Quoth David Anderson at Delaware Politics : The ACLU has done more damage to America than any other organization. It has distorted the liberty protections of the Constitution into chains of oppression whenever it is allowed to go unchecked. I looked into it, and by God he's right. Look at what that commie bastard scum group has been up to lately: ACLU files brief on behalf of Fox News against FCC fining the network for fleeting expletives in live broadcasts. ACLU goes to court to keep Yup'ik-speaking American citizens in Alaska from being disenfranchised by the State government in violation of the Voting Rights Act. ACLU challenges repressive law in Annapolis MD that gives the government the power to say who you may and may not have as a guest in your own home. ACLU advocates for disabled public school students who, research shows, suffer corporal punishment at a far greater rate than non-disabled students. ACLU leads the fight to give States, not the Drug Enforcement Adminis...

From the ACLU : WASHINGTON – A federal judge today ordered the government to release Guantánamo detainee and American Civil Liberties Union client Mohammed Jawad, who has been illegally detained by the U.S. for almost seven years. The Afghan government has indicated that it is prepared to receive Jawad immediately and unconditionally. U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle gave the Justice Department until August 21 to release Jawad from Guantánamo and transfer him to the custody of the Afghan government. Judge Huvelle also ordered the Justice Department to inform Congress of its plans for returning Jawad to Afghanistan by August 6, and to produce a report on the status of his repatriation by August 24. The following can be attributed to Jonathan Hafetz, staff attorney with the ACLU National Security Project and one of Jawad's lawyers in his habeas corpus case: "Judge Huvelle made clear that Mr. Jawad has been illegally detained and the government has no credible evidence to contin...

Remember what Rahm Emmanuel said about being one of the 1,000,000 Americans on the No-fly list: “if you’re on that no-fly list, your access to the right to bear arms is cancelled, because you’re not part of the American family; you don’t deserve that right. There is no right for you if you’re on that terrorist list.” Now, it seems that your right to purchase a car has also been cancelled--from Alphecca [a car salesman in real life]: A guy of middle-eastern decent (born in Afghanistan) wants to buy a car. We agree on the price, he fills out a credit-ap and we run it. Rock Star, as we say in the biz, 815 FICO score with 92% of his current credit available. Well employed at a famous medical school. Should be “No Problem” getting him financed, right? Wrong. His name brings up a flag on AMPAC, the American Patriot Act terrorist watch list. Well, his name is similar to other names on the list, so, banks are not allowed to loan money to him. It means he can’t get the car and I can’t get th...

From New American : The U.S. House of Representatives on July 9 voted almost unanimously to rebuke President Barack Obama over his June 24 signing statement openly declaring that he could ignore provisions of the law he was signing. The bipartisan 429-2 vote was a direct result of Obama's assertion that he could ignore restricitons on how the $106 billion loan guarantee to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) could be used. In his signing statement, Obama claimed that “provisions of this bill within sections 1110 to 1112 of title XI, and sections 1403 and 1404 of title XIV, would interfere with my constitutional authority to conduct foreign relations by directing the Executive to take certain positions in negotiations or discussions with international organizations and foreign governments, or by requiring consultation with the Congress prior to such negotiations or discussions. I will not treat these provisions as limiting my ability to engage in foreign diplomacy or negotiation...

... has nothing to do with being thus far unaware of Bush administration policies on domestic surveillance or any failure of the MSM to cover this issue . Yes, there are new details emerging, but we knew--we pretty much ALL knew--this was going on. As much as I cavil about the national Libertarian Party, it was the only political party that really made this a significant issue during the 2008 elections. Again and again . The ACLU has been pointing this out--in detail and along with other homeland security outrages--for years. We knew. As a friend of mine said about two months ago, "There has been no greater stain on the reputation of American in modern memory than the fact that we torture." Torture, surveillance, constitutional abuse. And yet there continues to be surprise [now growing louder, I will admit], among our liberal and progressive friends that the Obama administration would rather leave this all in the past, and is reluctant to name a special prosecutor. How cou...

I really don't like the title of this post, because it is far too close to what a lot of nutjobs were writing back even during the Presidential campaign. Besides, I really don't think that President Obama is systematically continuing the Bushco policies of dismantling the civil liberties protections of the US Constitution because he is a socialist, or anti-American, or a secret Kenyan-born infiltrator. I think he is busily hacking away at the US Constitution because he is a traditional Demopublican, Statist politician who actually views the Bill of Rights as an impediment to effective government action, and who actually believes that Americans will be more free [whatever that could possibly mean in the current context] with the government having more power to regulate virtually every aspect of our lives. I resisted this kind of title through the repeated cases of the Obama administration supporting Bushco policies on detainees, even when the administration has mooted ideas l...

Hard to believe but apparently true : Top Pentagon lawyer Jeh Johnson informed the Senate Armed Services Committee today that the Obama Administration might decide to continue imprisoning detainees indefinitely, even if they were charged with a crime, tried and acquitted. The new assertion of presidential authority is staggering. Previously the Bush Administration had held the detainees for years without trial, and claimed the right to hold them basically forever, which the Obama Administration endorsed. But trials were avoided for lack of evidence. President Obama had previously defended the release of detainees ordered to be let go by the courts by insisting there was nothing he could do after the court ruled. Not so now, it seems, and the lack of evidence is no obstacle because even if the trial fails, the president can simply overrule the court and keep the innocent detainee anyhow. Johnson said the detainees held despite being found not guilty in court would be permitted “some for...

What a surprise : “President Obama may mouth very different rhetoric,” said Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union. “He may have a more complicated process with members of Congress. But in the end, there is no substantive break from the policies of the Bush administration.” I'd say it was worth reading in its entirety, but by this point you either get it or you don't: President Obama is shaping up to be essentially just as authoritarian, just as cavalier about civil liberties, and just as dangerous to the Constitutional rule of law as somebody else with whom we recently parted company. But his supporters, much like the Stepford Republican faithful who followed Dubya over the cliff, mostly don't give a damn as long as he keeps them happy with domestic Bread and Circuses .

Here are the treasonous, eliminationist thoughts of Malcolm X that would convince some of our faux liberal friends that he hates America, wished to kill people, was a Second Amendment nut, and should be arrested, tried, and (well, you know) for treason: "Concerning nonviolence: It is criminal to teach a man not to defend himself, when he is the constant victim of brutal attacks. It is legal and lawful to own a shotgun or a rifle. We believe in obeying the law." "If violence is wrong in America, violence is wrong abroad. If it is wrong to be violent defending black women and black children and black babies and black men, then it is wrong for America to draft us, and make us violent abroad in defense of her. And if it is right for America to draft us, and teach us how to be violent in defense of her, then it is right for you and me to do whatever is necessary to defend our own people right here in this country." "I don't favor violence. If we could bring a...

Youssef Megahed was acquitted by a jury on charges of illegal possession and transport of explosives : Megahed came to the United States from Egypt in 1998 as a legal immigrant when he was 12. His problems started two years ago when, as an engineering student at the University of South Florida, he went on a road trip with a new friend, Ahmed Mohamed. The men were pulled over on a highway, near Charleston, South Carolina, for speeding. Police say they searched their vehicle and found PVC pipe with potassium nitrate inside, along with detonator cord inside one of Mohamed's bags. The government said the materials were "low explosives." Mohamed said they were materials for homemade model rockets. Youssef Megahed claimed he did not know that the materials were in the car. A search of Mohamed's laptop computer found research concerning rockets and propellants and how to manufacture them, as well as information about Qassam rockets -- crude rockets used by terrorists in the ...

... is why it is not always a good idea to rely completely on the State to safeguard your civil liberties. From Classically Liberal : Lava Hot Springs Park [Idaho] is a government-owned “recreation” center that announced a family discount. It then told a lesbian couple and their children that they don’t count as a real family and won’t get the discount. The park used state marriage laws as the excuse for that. When they got some flack over the unequal policy they announced that they would solve it by stripping all families of discounts. You should note that they are doing this over a few dollars.... What the local Chamber of Commerce said was that they were asked about their views toward “gay and lesbian visitors” and that the Board of the Chamber unanimously agreed that “we want all to know that we hope this isolated incident won’t dissuade visitors from exploring our community and, indeed, the rest of Idaho. The Lave Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce feels that all are welcome in our ...

President Obama's inaugural : As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our founding fathers faced with perils that we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. Six months later [via WaPo ]: The Obama administration, fearing a battle with Congress that could stall plans to close the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, is drafting an executive order that would reassert presidential authority to incarcerate terrorism suspects indefinitely, according to three senior government officials with knowledge of White House deliberations. Such an order would embrace claims by former president George W. Bush that certain people can be detained without trial for long periods under the laws of war. Obama advisers are concerned that an order, which would bypass Congres...

You gotta love how the NYT starts this story about the FBI's Terror Watch List and firearm purchases : WASHINGTON — People on the government’s terrorist watch list tried to buy guns nearly 1,000 times in the last five years, and federal authorities cleared the purchases 9 times out of 10 because they had no legal way to stop them, according to a new government report. In one case, a person on the list was able to buy more than 50 pounds of explosives. The new statistics, compiled in a report from the Government Accountability Office that is scheduled for public release next week, draw attention to an odd divergence in federal law: people placed on the government’s terrorist watch list can be stopped from getting on a plane or getting a visa, but they cannot be stopped from buying a gun. Gun purchases must be approved unless federal officials can find some other disqualification of the would-be buyer, like being a felon, an illegal immigrant or a drug addict. “This is a glaring omis...

From the NYT : The Obama administration is considering a change in the law for the military commissions at the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, that would clear the way for detainees facing the death penalty to plead guilty without a full trial. The provision could permit military prosecutors to avoid airing the details of brutal interrogation techniques. It could also allow the five detainees who have been charged with the Sept. 11 attacks to achieve their stated goal of pleading guilty to gain what they have called martyrdom. Or maybe I should have said, He's no better than Dick Cheney, since Cheney recently argued that some Gitmo detainees should simply be killed . The idea that we would take detainees, charge them with capital crimes based on evidence we won't show, and then allow them to plead guilty and be executed without a trial represents the full circle breakdown of our society being a government of laws and not of men. There really isn't room for equivocation on ...

Chronicling the visit of some human rights activists to the White House , where they discovered that the new President is mulling a policy of completely unconstitutional preventive detention for terror suspects [which you should read in its entirety], Dana closes with a paragraph that proves his intellectual integrity: Imagine their shock. Here they thought that at a minimum they would be talking to a President who wouldn't be as insensitive as George Bush on the human and legal rights of the detainees, only to confront a President who is considering creating a policy (and a political legacy) of disenfranchising these detainees of their rights in perpetuity. The differences between Obama the candidate and Obama the President are so vast they make one's head swim. That sort of intellectualy consistency is why Dana Garrett represents the progressive conscience of the Delaware blogosphere.

This comment by GRex over at Hube's place got me started thinking: They're most likely trying to ride the Craig's List killings and that woman who drove a teenager to commit suicide. Add that to the grandstanding over NCAA football playoffs, and I wonder if there's anything at all that Congress can't mess with under the Interstate Commerce Clause? Here's what the comment made me think: the Interstate Commerce Clause is the (supposedly) (only) Constitutional basis for virtually all major legislation for the past several decades, but what I never see is any calls for an originalist interpretation of the ICC. Yet at the same time we are usually inundated with arguments that the 2nd Amendment was only intended to arm militias, or arguments that the Framers never anticipated automatic weapons to justify gun control. I'm trying to distill this contradiction down to a workable premise, and I think I've got it: Parts of the Constitution that empower the Sta...

Rear Admiral Jane Dalton Colonel Morris Davis Major David J. R. Frakt Lieutenant Colonel Darrel Vandeveld Colonel Stephen Henley The Military Commissions Act was an unconstitutional abuse of power, but the story is slowly emerging of a dedicated cadre of JAG officers throughout the last eight years who have stood up for the rights of the accused, and have stood up against torture and--when necessary--their superior officers. From the ACLU [This report was originally published--and I missed it--on 13 January 2009, which explains the seemingly anachronistic reference to the Bush administration]: WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union filed a petition for habeas corpus today in federal court in the District of Columbia to challenge the unlawful detention of Mohammed Jawad, who has been held for over six years at Guantánamo Bay. Lt. Col. Darrel Vandeveld, the former lead prosecutor in Jawad's military commission case, is supporting the ACLU's legal challenge. Jawad, now ...