Council takes on Patriot Act [Fairbanks Daily News-Miner] If critics of the USA Patriot Act are correct, the Fairbanks City Council may have spent more time pondering a... Read More |
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The Bill of Rights wins with the Lawless team [Fairbanks BORDC] During this past weekend Mike Lawless, carrying a copy of the Bill of Rights in his pocket and the Fairbanks... Read More |
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Proposal rebukes Patriot Act [Fairbanks Daily News-Miner] JUNEAU—Inspired by a resolution passed by the Fairbanks City Council, Senate Minority Leader Johnny Ellis, D-Anchorage, is working on a... Read More |
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House Takes Stand Against Patriot Act [Santa Fe New Mexican] By an overwhelming vote, the House on Monday passed legislation putting the state on record as opposing many provisions of... Read More |
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Santa Fe Police Detain Library Patron [American Libraries] A St. John’s College Library visit by a former public defender was abruptly interrupted February 13 when city police officers... Read More |
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Librarians try to alter Patriot Act [San Francisco Chronicle] Along with the usual reminders to hold the noise down and pay overdue fines, library patrons in Santa Cruz are... Read More |
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Red Alert for Bill of Rights! [The Village Voice] The Justice Department ... seems to be running amok ... This agency right now is the biggest threat to personal... Read More |
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Portland case could put to test Patriot Act [Oregon Statesman Journal] PORTLAND — The government’s expanded spying powers under the USA Patriot Act could face their first test in open court... Read More |
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Judge Rejects Challenge to FBI Spy Powers [U.K. Guardian Unlimited] PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - The FBI does not have to explain why it applied for search warrants to bug homes... Read More |
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DOJ Drafts Sweeping Expansion of the UPA [The Center for Public Integrity] (WASHINGTON, Feb. 7, 2003) -- The Bush Administration is preparing a bold, comprehensive sequel to the USA Patriot Act passed... Read More |
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Ashcroft Out of Control [The Village Voice] Many of the new security measures proposed by our government in the name of fighting the "war on terror" are... Read More |
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It was a good day for the 6th AmendmentHerald News Opinion
NorthJersey.com (website)
3/12/2003 Score one for the 6th Amendment. U.S. District Judge Michael Mukasey ruled on
Tuesday that the government must allow lawyers access to Jose Padilla, the alleged
"dirty bomber." Padilla, an American citizen, was arrested May 8 in Chicago and
is alleged to have conspired with al-Qaida to steal radioactive material in order
to build and explode a "dirty bomb" in the United States. A month after his arrest,
he was designated an "enemy combatant" by President Bush, moved to a military brig
in South Carolina and denied access to counsel.
The 6th Amendment guarantees citizens "the right to a speedy and public trial"
and to "have the assistance of counsel for his defense." While the Justice Department
contends that a state of war obliterates those rights like the military's new 21,000-pound
bomb, it is wrong. Mukasey ruled last December that Bush had a lawful right to classify
an American citizen as an enemy combatant. However, he also ruled that Padilla had
a right to have advice from counsel. The government asked Mukasey to rethink that
ruling. He did, coming down on the side of the Bill of Rights. The Justice Department
should not appeal.
Padilla is one of two Americans being held as enemy combatants; Yasser Esam Hamdi
is the other American. Hamdi's case is less clear - he was captured on a battlefield
in Afghanistan. Padilla was arrested at O'Hare International Airport.
The government has a right to aggressively pursue terrorists and people who may
be aiding them. The federal court system functions quite well in such cases. Defendants
are charged, have access to lawyers, face trial and a jury. That is democracy at
work. The war on terrorism lacks any boundaries. There is no country to defeat.
There is no single person to arrest that will end the war. Declaring someone an
enemy combatant—citizen or non-citizen—in this war on terror sentences him or her
to an unlimited detention without ever being charged with a crime. Padilla is no
Boy Scout. He served time in prison for a juvenile murder and for gun possession.
That should not void his right to legal counsel.
The government contends that giving Padilla access to a lawyer would hurt its
relationship with him; Padilla would trust them less if he had a lawyer. That's
far-fetched at best. And a lawyer, as Mukasey noted, might actually encourage Padilla
to cooperate more fully with interrogators. Given the amount of time that Padilla
now has spent in detention, it seems unlikely that at this point, he could give
federal investigators any new information on terrorist plots.
Locking up American citizens and throwing away the key just because the president
said so is not reason enough. The greatness of the United States comes from its
highly cherished freedoms.
One of the lawyers trying to meet with Padilla, Donna Newman, said, "It is comforting
for all United States citizens that if they were to be seized by the military and
held incommunicado, at least an attorney can have access to them and be their voice."
Access to a lawyer's advice will not compromise the security of the United States.
Wiping away the 6th Amendment, though, compromises the integrity of its Constitution. Close |
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Supreme Court Justice Scalia Bans Media [Common Dreams News Center] CLEVELAND—Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has banned broadcast media from an appearance Wednesday where he will receive an award for... Read More |
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Court stiff-arms privacy challenge [Los Angeles Times] WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court on Monday turned away a preliminary challenge to the government's expanded powers to wiretap and search people... Read More |
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Ashcroft: Criticism of DOJ "aiding terrorists" [Declan McCullagh's Politech] The Washington Post yesterday said in an editorial: >Mr. Ashcroft may not like the criticism. But his job... Read More |
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Group raises funds to send delegate to Juneau [Fairbanks Daily News-Miner] A fundraising campaign began in an upstairs room at University Community Presbyterian Church Sunday when a woman whipped out a... Read More |
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Ex-Intel VP Fights for Detainee [Wired.com] Friends of an Intel programmer who is being held in a federal prison can't help but shake their heads in... Read More |
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House Judiciary Chairman Hesitant on UPA II [FOX News] WASHINGTON — The Bush administration's plans to expand a post-Sept. 11 anti-terrorism law face resistance from a powerful House Republican... Read More |
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Local Officials Rise Up to Defy The Patriot Act [The Washington Post] ARCATA, Calif. — This North Coast city may look sweet -- old, low-to-the-ground buildings, town square with a bronze statue... Read More |
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GOP calls for wider powers to track citizens [Seattle Post-Intelligencer] WASHINGTON — With the war on terrorism lagging behind the war in Iraq, Republicans in Congress and the White House... Read More |
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Libraries Rally Against USA Patriot Act [FOX News] PATERSON, N.J.—Librarians across the country are rising up against the USA Patriot Act, shredding records and making other attempts to... Read More |
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Conservatives Rise for the Bill of Rights! [The Village Voice] A significant development in the movement to resist the Ashcroft-Bush dismembering of the Bill of Rights is the growing coalition... Read More |
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Chief Architect of Patriot Act to Quit [Los Angeles Times] WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is losing another key foot soldier in its war on terrorism. Viet Dinh, the chief... Read More |
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Fighting the Patriot Act—Now It's Alaska! [CounterPunch.org] The Bush Administration and Attorney General John Ashcroft may have been able to pull a fast one in the wake... Read More |
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Town criminalizes compliance with Patriot Act [CNN] ARCATA, California (AP) — More than 100 cities and one state have passed resolutions condemning the USA Patriot Act, saying... Read More |
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Senate passes resolution questioning Patriot Act [Fairbanks Daily News-Miner] JUNEAU—The state Senate passed a resolution late Tuesday expressing concern over the federal USA Patriot Act, an antiterrorism measure passed... Read More |
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Alaska Passes Anti-Patriot Act Resolution [ABC News] May 23—Alaska has joined a growing national rebellion against the USA Patriot Act, voting to oppose the massive federal anti-terrorism... Read More |
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Anti-Terror Power Used Broadly [The Washington Post] The Justice Department has used many of the anti-terrorism powers granted in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks... Read More |
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Ashcroft Defied on City Hall Steps [The Village Voice] "As New Yorkers living in the city most affected by September 11, we acknowledge the need to protect our safety,... Read More |
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US threatens mass expulsions [BBC News] More than 13,000 Arab and Muslim men in the US are facing deportation after co-operating with post-11 September anti-terror measures,... Read More |
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Patriot Act of 2001 casts wide net [The Washington Post] Long-sought details have begun to emerge from the Justice Department on how anti-terrorist provisions of the USA Patriot Act were... Read More |
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N.J. Judge Unseals Transcript In Terror Case [The Washington Post] PATERSON, N.J., June 24—Mohamed Atriss spent six months here in the Passaic County Jail based on accusations by county prosecutors... Read More |
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Report on UPA Alleges Civil Rights Violations [The New York Times] WASHINGTON, July 20—A report by internal investigators at the Justice Department has identified dozens of recent cases in which department... Read More |
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House Takes Aim at Patriot Act Secret Searches [Reuters] WASHINGTON (Reuters)—The U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to roll back a key provision, which allows the government... Read More |
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Toughen Patriot Act, attorney general says [Anchorage Daily News] United States Attorney General John Ashcroft told federal and local officials Monday the USA Patriot Act should be expanded, not... Read More |
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War on Terrorism Increasingly Used in War on Drugs [Drug Policy Alliance] A Watauga County prosecutor is using a law intended to combat terrorism to fight the spread of methamphetamine laboratories in... Read More |
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Justice Department Opposes "Sneak and Peek" Ban [The Washington Post] WASHINGTON (Reuters)—The U.S. Justice Department on Friday opposed a bid to ban the government from conducting secret "sneak and peek"... Read More |
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A tiny town shouts "Whoa!" to Patriot Act [The Seattle Times] TONASKET, Okanogan County—If this is a hotbed of sedition, they're hiding it pretty well. In fact, the most suspicious group... Read More |
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