Detention

Cheney Digs in on Legacy of Torture

By Sam Milgrom, Washington Legislative Office at 5:11pm

Former Vice President Dick Cheney is busy promoting his new book. The take-home message appears to be: He is not sorry for the torture and abuse that took place during the Bush administration.

Court Sanctions CIA to Pay Fees Over Torture Tapes

By Ateqah Khaki at 9:32pm

Earlier today, we appeared in court for a hearing on our motion to hold the CIA in contempt of the court for destroying 92 videotapes depicting torture of two prisoners, Abu Zubaydah and Abd Al-Rahim Al-Nashiri. (Coincidentally, the argument came on the nine-year anniversary of two of the “torture memos” that purported to provide legal cover for the brutal interrogation CIA detainees).

Newspapers in America's Three Biggest Cities Have Joined Call to Honor Opponents of Torture

By Josh Bell, Media Strategist, ACLU at 4:28pm

Today the Los Angeles Times published a stirring editorial calling on President Obama to honor those in government who resisted the Bush administration's torture policies. Joining The New York Times and the Chicago Sun-Times, the paper spotlighted public servants like:

Senate Armed Services Committee Says "No" to Worldwide War; Overreaches on Indefinite Detention

By Sam Milgrom, Washington Legislative Office at 5:12pm

Hooray! With your help, we prevented the Senate from authorizing the president to engage in worldwide war.

For months, we have been pushing to prevent Congress from passing legislation that would give this president (and any of his successors) the authority to engage our country in a worldwide war without a defined enemy.

A couple of weeks ago, the Senate Armed Services Committee passed its version of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2012 (NDAA), H.R. 1253. The committee recently released the official language — and the worldwide war authority provision was nowhere to be found!

The Good and the Bad of the Warsame Case

By Suzanne Ito, ACLU at 4:57pm

First, the good: with today's news of charges being brought against terrorism suspect Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame in federal criminal court in New York, the Obama administration is acting on its Attorney General’s stated belief that our criminal justice system is the best and most appropriate place to try such suspects.

Cross-Post

By Gabe Rottman, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 1:02pm
Sorry I haven't been posting more. Have been busy with other stuff (but check out this post on the ACLU blog). Also, thanks so much to Naomi Klein, the inimitable author of No Logo and the forthcoming The Shock Doctrine, for linking to findhabeas! Big ups to the Canadians.

Mr. Addington Gets Called Out

By Gabe Rottman, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 12:10pm
When the historians get their mitts on the Bush presidency, the one essential book that probably will never be written is a biography of David Addington, Vice President Cheney's former top lawyer and current chief of staff (the replacement, of course, for Scooter). Of all of the executive supremacy guys, Mr. Addington is the most prodigious, the most zeal

Absolute Must Read

By Gabe Rottman, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 2:41pm
Linda Greenhouse virtuosity: a great synopsis of the habeas restoration landscape as we wait with baited breath for Congress to come back from their August recess (no pun intended). Key grafs, buried at the end of the story:
The recently filed briefs argue strenuously that the

Dropeth the Other Shoe?

By Gabe Rottman, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 2:39pm

Why Worry?

By Gabe Rottman, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 6:42am
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