Earlier this afternoon, the Senate voted to table (a fancy word for defeating) an amendment that was proposed by Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) to the military construction appropriations bill. The Inhofe Amendment would have prohibited the Department of Defense from using any funds under the bill to modify or construct any facilities in the U.S. to hold any of the Guantánamo detainees, including those charged, tried, or convicted in regular federal courts.

The ACLU, as well as a number of coalition partners, wrote to the Senate urging the defeat of this fear-mongering amendment. Had it passed, it would have greatly impeded the ability of Attorney General Eric Holder to prosecute Guantánamo detainees in our tried-and-true federal criminal courts. Additionally, it would have put front-line law enforcement and corrections officials at needless risk by eliminating the ability to enhance security or communications at facilities holding detainees during their trials.

The defeat of the Inhofe Amendment, along with the Graham Amendment two weeks ago, represent important congressional victories for the rule of law and our Constitution.

Equally heartening was a statement signed by several prominent conservatives including Bob Barr, David Keene and Grover Norquist in which they support the closing of Guantánamo, as well as the decision to prosecute detainees in regular federal courts. They write:

Civilian federal courts are the proper forum for terrorism cases. Civilian prisons are the safe, cost effective and appropriate venue to hold persons convicted in federal courts. Over the last two decades, federal courts constituted under Article III of the U.S. Constitution have proven capable trying a wide array of terrorism cases, without sacrificing either national security or fair trail standards.

While we’ll still likely see attempts in Congress to hamper efforts to close Guantánamo and restore the rule of law by bringing detainees to trial in federal criminal court , the recent victories, as well as the ever-broadening array of voices in support, offer cause for hope.

As part of ESPN’s 30 for 30 series of documentary films, they will be airing Without Bias tonight at 8pm (with additional airings on their various sister networks over the coming months).

Twenty-three years after University of Maryland basketball star Len Bias died of a drug overdose (hours after the Boston Celtics picked him in the NBA draft), ESPN will air this new documentary by Kirk Fraser. The film features interviews with his closest teammates, friends and family. For the first time, we hear firsthand accounts of what transpired during Bias' final hours from those who were with him at the time of his death.

His death sparked a national media frenzy largely focused on the drug that was suspected, mistakenly, of killing him — crack cocaine. A few weeks after Len’s death, Congress, under the leadership of former Speaker Tip O’Neill (D-Mass.), passed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, establishing for the first time mandatory minimum sentences triggered by specific quantities of cocaine. Congress also established much tougher sentences for crack cocaine offenses than for those involving the powder form of the substance — creating the infamous, discriminatory 100-to-1 sentencing disparity.

Today, momentum in Congress for finally ending this injustice is stronger than at any other point since the disparity was first written into law. The House Judiciary Committee sent legislation that would eliminate the distinction between crack and powder under federal law on to the full chamber for a vote on the House floor. In the Senate, Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), along with nearly a dozen colleagues, recently introduced S. 1789, the Fair Sentencing Act of 2009. The Fair Sentencing Act would also eliminate the disparity between the two forms of the same drug. If all of that wasn’t promising enough, President Obama and the Department of Justice stand strongly behind efforts to eliminate the disparity.

Without Bias chronicles how one man's meteoric rise to fame was derailed by a fatal decision that still echoes throughout sports and the criminal justice system today.

Definitely one to check out tonight at 8 p.m.! Let us know what you think of the film by leaving your thoughts and comments.