Prometheus 6 - Justice

There are no lawyers in the military

Prometheus 6 — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 04:51:19 -0400

Commander Swift concluded that the commissions were unconstitutional. He did his duty and defended his client. The case went to the Supreme Court, which ruled in June that the tribunals violated American law as well as the Geneva Conventions. The Navy responded by killing his military career.
The Navy gave no reason for refusing Commander Swift’s promotion. But there is no denying the chilling message it sends to remaining military lawyers about the potential consequences of taking their job, and justice, seriously.

The Cost of Doing Your Duty

During the recent debate over how to handle the prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, the Bush administration made a lot of noise about its commitment to fair treatment for the detainees and its respect for the uniformed lawyers of the armed forces. Anyone who believed those claims should consider the fate of the Navy lawyer whose integrity helped spark that debate in the first place.

God forbid we recognize human fallibility

Prometheus 6 — Sun, 08 Oct 2006 10:57:21 -0400

I never thought that serving the ideals of the Constitution made you soft or tough on crime. In this gubernatorial race, it is important for the voters to recognize that the governor should aspire to serve the ideals of the Constitution because it is the Constitution that governs us all. Respecting the Constitution doesn't make you soft or tough -- it only makes you just and fair.

Righting a wrong isn't being `soft' on crime
By Ralph Martin II | October 8, 2006

PEOPLE MAKE mistakes in life, and evaluating them long after is the pursuit of critics galore.

Which rights will be left?

Prometheus 6 — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 12:26:00 -0400

Bush Judges Confirm Opponents' Fears
Report Documents Impact of Bush-Nominated Appeals Court Judges

Federal appeals court judges nominated by President Bush are threatening and undermining Americans’ rights and liberties, and working to reduce congressional authority to protect those rights and liberties, according to a legal analysis published today by People For the American Way Foundation.

“President Bush has fallen far short in keeping his promise to appoint judges who will interpret the law, not make it,” said People For the American Way Foundation President Ralph G. Neas. “Judges nominated by President Bush and confirmed by the U.S. Senate are undermining Americans’ rights, liberties, and legal protections.”

The report, Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears , covers cases decided between September 1, 2004 and May 31, 2006. It provides a significant update to preliminary analyses of Bush-nominated judges that PFAWF published in 2004. The new report documents that troubling trends identified in earlier reviews have continued as more Bush appointees gain more experience and tenure on the appellate courts – more and more opinions seek, sometimes successfully, to cut back broadly on Americans’ rights under our Constitution and laws.

A taste of the Old South in New York State

Prometheus 6 — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 08:59:40 -0400

In the Old South, though, they would call them sheriffs instead of judges.

“I just follow my own common sense,” Mr. Buckley, in an interview, said of his 13 years on the bench. “And the hell with the law.”

In Tiny Courts of New York, Abuses of Law and Power
By WILLIAM GLABERSON

Some of the courtrooms are not even courtrooms: tiny offices or basement rooms without a judge’s bench or jury box. Sometimes the public is not admitted, witnesses are not sworn to tell the truth, and there is no word-for-word record of the proceedings.

Yeah, this is offensive enough to override my political focus

Prometheus 6 — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 08:39:15 -0400

The report quotes girls who had worked as prostitutes who felt they were singled out by male staff members. A number of those girls complained of harassment, unwanted touching and sexual contact.

One girl, identified as Ebony V., who was 16 at the time of her confinement, recalled in the report an episode in which she was having sex in the office of a male staff member at Lansing when another male employee walked in on them. “He said: ‘Oh, oh, oh, oh I’m sorry’ and closed the door. It’s crazy, isn’t it?” the report quotes her as saying.
One of the most stinging criticisms leveled by the report centers on the use of a face-down restraint. The report describes how girls are seized from behind and pushed to the floor, their arms held in place or put in handcuffs. The restraint is used for such infractions as not making a bed properly or not raising one’s hand before speaking, the report said...Mr. Marchetti said restraints were used to prevent harm and also to “de-escalate situations.”

In New York, a Report Details Abuse and Neglect at 2 State-Run Centers for Girls
By LISA W. FODERARO

Lansing and Tryon. They are among the most secure facilities in New York State for girls who have crossed the law — remote state-run institutions located far from New York City, where most of their inmates are from. And to the girls who are sent there, the facilities are notorious.

“They restrain you for no reason,” Antoinette, a 17-year-old, said in an interview last week. She was confined at Tryon Girls Center, near Albany, after she was found to have committed a robbery. “They throw you down and mush your face into the floor,” she said. “It’s just like having rug burns on your face. They make girls cry and are always doing strip searches.”

My sidebar block was at least as good as a yellow ribbon magnet

Prometheus 6 — Sat, 23 Sep 2006 23:20:22 -0400

Click that image...it links to the guy that kept the issue alive.

Maye's death decree tossed
Man convicted in cop slaying to get new sentencing hearing
By Jerry Mitchell

POPLARVILLE — A judge on Thursday threw out the death sentence of a Prentiss man convicted of killing a cop in a 2001 drug raid and handed Cory Maye a second chance of avoiding lethal injection.

After a two-day hearing in Pearl River County Circuit Court, Judge Michael Eubanks ruled that Maye's trial attorney, Rhonda Cooper of Jackson, did not represent her client adequately during the penalty phase of Maye's 2003 trial.

Eubanks overturned the sentence, ordered a new sentencing hearing and said he would rule on the other matters raised by Maye's new defense team later.

I think the very existence of such sites is sufficient proof they should be closed

Prometheus 6 — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 07:15:43 -0400

That's all.

Effort to Combat Child Pornography Would Close Web Sites
By KURT EICHENWALD

As part of the battle against the spread of child pornography on the Internet, an initiative has begun allowing for the shutdown or blocking of sites offering illicit images of minors, even in cases where no criminal investigation is being conducted.

The initiative, expected to be announced today at a Congressional hearing, is part of an effort among a group of Internet service providers and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Until now, the decisions to close child pornography sites were ad hoc, based on thousands of referrals to the service providers and the Cybertipline of the center.

Caught with his hand in the cookie jar, Rep. Jefferson refuses to step down

Prometheus 6 — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 09:06:52 -0400

I'm...sorry, that's Bob Ney. Jefferson is a Democrat, Ney is a Republicker. Critical difference, eh?

Another difference: everyone called for Jefferson to step down. The Republickers fully support Ney, who confessed to being drunk enough to sell the influence of his office yet sober enough to hide it well for years...

Okay, that may be unfair. There was so much corruption going on it didn't take sobriety to hide it. Call it hiding in plain sight.

Anyway, the Lead Republicker in the House of Representatives is leaving the matter up to this confessed criminal's conscience . And as soon as he finds where he left it, I'm sure he'll turn it on again and make the right decision. Yup. I'm sure he will.

An election is an election...Diebold will make it all turn out right

Prometheus 6 — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 10:45:03 -0400

Judicial Politics Run Amok

Contests for important state judgeships around the country are getting nastier, more partisan and tons more expensive. Monied interests seeking to influence court decisions are spending lavishly to boost preferred candidates, much as they do in campaigns for regular political office. Today’s round of judicial elections in Washington State points to the seriousness of the problem and its threat to judicial integrity, independence and impartiality.

With three seats on the Washington State Supreme Court up for grabs, a record amount of money — some $2 million — has poured in to underwrite the contested races. Some of the television and radio attack ads against the incumbent chief justice, Gerry Alexander, were so unfair or misleading they would have seemed out of line even if the contests were for local alderman instead of a lofty position on the state’s highest court. The inevitable result: reinforced ties between would-be judges and their partisan supporters, and diminished public respect and confidence in judicial decision making no matter which candidates win today.

Incorrect rendition

Prometheus 6 — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 10:42:34 -0400

“The American authorities who handled Mr. Arar’s case treated Mr. Arar in a most regrettable fashion,” Justice O’Connor wrote in a three-volume report, not all of which was made public. “They removed him to Syria against his wishes and in the face of his statements that he would be tortured if sent there. Moreover, they dealt with Canadian officials involved with Mr. Arar’s case in a less than forthcoming manner.”

Canadians Fault U.S. for Its Role in Torture Case
By IAN AUSTEN

OTTAWA, Sept. 18 — A government commission on Monday exonerated a Canadian computer engineer of any ties to terrorism and issued a scathing report that faulted Canada and the United States for his deportation four years ago to Syria, where he was imprisoned and tortured.