News Intelligence Analysis
Law and Legal
Issues
Plus: The California
Energy
Fraud Cases
See also articles and
documents in the
following Directories:
Battle for
the Judiciary
Directory of the
CIA Leak
Abu Ghraib
Articles
Civil Rights Under
Attack
Directory of Scandals
Government Abuse
Directory
NEW: Why the "Political
Question Doctrine"
Shouldn't Necessarily Prevent Courts
From Asking Whether a Spending Bill
Actually Passed Congress
Part Two in a Series.
By Vik Amar
The
gist of these lawsuits is that the version of the
Act passed by the Senate and signed by the President
was never, in fact, voted on favorably by the House of
Representatives, and thus cannot be considered a
"Law of the United States" under
the Constitution.
Sex Reporting Nixed by Federal Court
AKA: "Kiss and Tell No
More"
A federal judge in Kansas
has dealt another blow
to the crusade by the state's attorney general, Phill
Kline, to restrict abortions under the phony banner of
combating child abuse....This week, a federal trial
judge in Wichita killed Mr. Kline's daft idea to require
doctors, school counselors and psychotherapists,
among others, to report all sexual activity by people
under 16, from kissing
to sexual intercourse.
Punch-card Voting is Illegal in Ohio
Professor: Appellate ruling in Ohio is first in U.S.
to say a state's equipment violates equal protection
By Lisa A. Abraham
The 2002 case, which was decided
in December 2004,
was filed against Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth
Blackwell by the ACLU on behalf of voters in Summit,
Hamilton and Montgomery counties. The suit claimed
the use of punch-card voting in some Ohio counties
but not in others violated voters' rights to equal protection
under the law. The suit also claimed the system violated
voters' rights to have their votes counted, and violated the
Voting Rights Act of 1965 by having a larger negative
impact on
African-American voters
Christians Sue for the Right to Hate
Many codes intended to protect gays from
harassment are illegal, conservatives argue.
By Stephanie Simon
April 10, 2006
ATLANTA — Ruth Malhotra
went to court last
month for the right to be intolerant. Malhotra says
her Christian faith compels her to speak out against
homosexuality. But the Georgia Institute of Technology,
where she's a senior, bans speech that puts down
others because of their sexual orientation. Malhotra
sees that as an unacceptable infringement on her
right to religious expression. So she's demanding
that Georgia Tech revoke its
tolerance policy.
Gonzales
Suggests Legal Basis
for Domestic Eavesdropping
By ERIC LICHTBLAU
WASHINGTON, April 6 —
Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales suggested
on Thursday for the first time that the president
might have the legal authority to order wiretapping
without a warrant on communications between
Americans that occur exclusively within the
United States.
Justices
Decline Terror
Case of a U.S. Citizen
By LINDA GREENHOUSE
WASHINGTON, April 3 — Jose Padilla, the
American citizen held for more than three years
in military custody as an enemy combatant, fell
one vote short on Monday of persuading the
Supreme Court to
take his case.
Testimony
of John Dean on Censure
Published: Friday March 31, 2006
Testimony of John W. Dean before the Senate
Judiciary Committee Regarding Senator Feingold’s
Proposed Senate Resolution 398 Relating To
the
Censure
of George W. Bush.
The
Bill Never Passed and
What Can Be Done About It
Part One in a Series
By VIKRAM
DAVID AMAR
When is a bill sent to the President
by
Congress and signed by him not a "Law of
the United States" within the meaning of the
Constitution? For one thing, when the measure
did not actually pass both the Senate and the
House. That is the seemingly compelling -- if
a bit eighth-grade civics -- argument being pressed
in a federal lawsuit challenging the validity of the
so-called "Deficit Reduction Act of 2005" approved
by President
Bush on February 8, 2006.
John Dean Blasts
Warrantless Eavesdropping
Mar 31, 2006
By LAURIE KELLMAN
WASHINGTON (AP) - Nixon White House
counselor John Dean, testifying in favor of a
Democratic resolution to censure President
Bush, asserted Friday that Bush's conduct
in connection with domestic spying exceeds
the wrongdoing that toppled his
former boss
from power.
The Broken Branch:
An Unusual Lawsuit Takes Congress to
Task For Shoddy and Partisan Lawmaking,
In Which A Bill Is Unconstitutionally Being
Treated as Law
By JOHN W. DEAN
Republicans promised reform in
1994, when they
won control of the House for the first time in four
decades. But rather than deliver it, GOP leadership
has - according to Mann and Ornstein - undermined
the institution through "the demise of regular order,
the decline of deliberation and the weakening of our
system of
checks and balances."
The Problem with Presidential
Signing Statements: Their Use and
Misuse by the Bush Administration
By JOHN W. DEAN
Friday, Jan. 13, 2006
Rather
than veto laws passed by Congress, Bush is
using his signing statements to effectively nullify them as
they relate to the executive branch. These statements,
for him, function as directives to executive branch departments
and agencies as to how they are
to implement the relevant law.
Shocking
The Conscience Of America:
Bush And Cheney Call For The Right
To Torture And Are Decisively and
Correctly Rebuffed by the House
By JOHN W. DEAN
Friday,
Dec. 16, 2005
If the events I
am about to describe were taking
place in a movie, or novel, I would lose my ability
to suspend disbelief: Who could conceive of an
American President and Vice President demanding
that Congress give them authority to torture anyone,
under
any circumstances?
Bush
Rewrites Patriot
Act Requirement
In signing addendum, he says
oversight rules are not binding
By Charlie Savage
WASHINGTON -- When President Bush
signed the reauthorization of the USA Patriot
Act this month, he included an addendum
[a signing statement] saying that he did
not feel obliged to obey requirements that
he inform Congress about how the FBI was
using the act's expanded
police powers.
Roberts
Dissent Reveals Strain
Beneath Court's Placid Surface
By LINDA GREENHOUSE
WASHINGTON, March 22 — A Supreme Court
decision on Wednesday in an uncelebrated
criminal case did more than resolve a dispute
over whether the police can search a home
without a warrant when one occupant gives
consent but another objects. More than any
other case so far, the decision, which answered
that question in the negative by a vote of 5 to 3,
drew back the curtain to reveal the strains behind
the surface placidity and collegiality of the young
Roberts
court.
Pastors'
Get-Out-the-Vote
Training Could Test Tax Rules
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
WASHINGTON, March 20 — Weeks after
the Internal Revenue Service announced a
crackdown on political activities by churches
and other tax-exempt organizations, a coalition
of nonprofit conservative groups is holding training
sessions to enlist Pennsylvania pastors in turning
out voters for the November
elections.
Scrutiny
for Law on Detaining
Witnesses
By ADAM LIPTAK
A 22-year-old federal law that allows people
to be held without charges if they have information
about others' crimes is coming under fresh scrutiny
in the courts, in Congress and within the Justice
Department after reports that it has been
abused in terrorism
investigations.
How
the GOP Messes
up the House
By Erica Rosenberg
The
fate of the Endangered Species Act
under Pombo's leadership typifies House
Republicans' demolition approach to the
nation's legislative process. Measures affecting
long-standing energy policy, mining law and
oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
were similarly railroaded through committee
with little opportunity for debate, amendment
or media coverage. Often, the public record
on what occurred during these bills' travels
through committee was thin, at
best.
Bush
Ex-Aide Arrested for Fraud
By IAN URBINA and DAVID D.
KIRKPATRICK
WASHINGTON, March 13 — Claude A. Allen often said his
religious upbringing took him from a two-room apartment
in a poor neighborhood of Washington to a post at the
White House.Last week, that life and discipline
appeared
to have frayed when Mr. Allen, the president's former
domestic policy adviser, was arrested in suburban Maryland
and charged with stealing thousands of dollars in merchandise
from Target and other stores in a scheme
to fake returns.
Sandra
Day O'Connor Criticizes
Republicans Who Criticize the
Judiciary
March 10, 2006
Katherine
Yurica
Speaking
at Georgetown University, former
Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor
warned against the danger of a potential American
dictatorship that begins with intimidation of the
judiciary. Citing specific examples, without
naming either Tom Delay or Sen. John Cornyn,
both Republican critics of the courts and both
from Texas, she stated their attacks pose "a
direct threat to our constitutional freedom."
Freedom is not possible without an independent
judiciary to protect individual rights she said.
O'Connor warned against "nakedly partisan
reasoning."
Judge
Calls Halt to Penalty
Phase of Terror Trial
By NEIL A. LEWIS
ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 13 — An angry federal
judge delayed the sentencing trial of Zacarias
Moussaoui on Monday and said she was considering
ending the prosecution's bid to have him executed
after the disclosure that a government lawyer had
improperly coached
some witnesses.
Terrorism
Prosecutorial
Incompetence
The Bush administration
has jeopardized the sentencing
of Zacarias Moussaoui, the so-called "20th hijacker,"
by
tampering with witnesses. The federal judge presiding
over the case, Leonie M. Brinkema, said yesterday,
"[I]n all my years on the bench, I've never seen a more
egregious violation of the rule about witnesses." Carla
J.
Martin, a Transportation Security Administration lawyer,
"violated a court order by e-mailing trial transcripts to
seven witnesses -- all current and former federal aviation
employees -- and coaching them on their upcoming
testimony."
Third
Elections Worker Indicted
Over Presidential Recount
3/9/2006, 5:11 a.m.
ET
The third highest ranking
employee at the
Cuyahoga County Board of Elections has been
indicted on charges of mishandling ballots during
the 2004 presidential election
recount.
Contractor
Bilked U.S.
of Millions
Custer Battles Is Told It Should Pay
More Than $10 Million in Damages
By Charles R. Babcock
Friday, March 10, 2006
Two Army veterans and their company
cheated the U.S. government on a contract
to furnish Iraq with a new currency in 2003
and should pay more than $10 million in
assorted damages, a federal jury in
Alexandria
ruled yesterday.
No.
3 Official at CIA Is Subject of
Investigation Related to Bribery Probe
By BRIAN ROSS, RICHARD ESPOSITO
and RHONDA SCHWARTZ
The CIA Inspector General has opened an
investigation into the spy agency's executive
director, Kyle "Dusty" Foggo,
and his
connections to two defense contractors
accused of bribing a member of Congress
and
Pentagon officials.
Abortion
Opponents Win Dispute
By LINDA GREENHOUSE
WASHINGTON, Feb. 28 — The Supreme
Court brought an end Tuesday to a 20-year
effort by the National Organization for Women
to hold a coalition of anti-abortion groups
accountable for a campaign of disrupting and
blockading abortion clinics during the 1980's.
Ruling 8 to 0, the court held that the Hobbs
Act, a federal law that makes it a crime to use
robbery, extortion or, under some circumstances,
violence to obstruct commerce, did not provide a
proper basis for the federal court injunction that
NOW and two women's health clinics had obtained
against groups
like Operation Rescue.
Libby's
Lawyers Say Prosecutor
Acted Unconstitutionally
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON, Feb. 23 — Lawyers for Vice
President Dick Cheney's former top aide asked a
federal judge on Thursday to dismiss his indictment,
saying the special prosecutor in the C.I.A. leak
case lacked the authority to bring the charges.
Lawyers for the former aide, I. Lewis Libby Jr.,
said his indictment violated the Constitution
because the special counsel, Patrick J. Fitzgerald,
was not appointed by the president with the consent
of the Senate. They added that the appointment
violated federal law because the attorney general
did not supervise the investigation. Only Congress,
the lawyers said, can
approve such an arrangement.
I.R.S.
Finds Sharp Increase
in Illegal Political Activity
By STEPHANIE STROM
The I.R.S. said yesterday that it saw a sharp
increase in prohibited political activity by charities
and churches in the last election cycle, a trend
that it aims to reverse as the country heads into
the midterm elections. The tax agency found
problems at three-quarters of the 82 organizations
it examined after having received complaints about
their political activities, according to a report the
Internal Revenue Service released. The infractions
included distributing materials that encouraged
people to vote for particular candidates and giving
cash
to campaigns.
Click
here to read the full
IRS Report
Scalia
Jeers Fans of 'Living' Charter
Published February 15, 2006
PONCE, Puerto Rico (AP) -- People who think
the Constitution would break if it didn't change with
society are "idiots," U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Antonin Scalia says. In a speech Monday
sponsored
by the conservative Federalist Society, Justice Scalia
defended his long-held belief in sticking to the plain
text of the Constitution "as it was originally written
and intended." "Scalia does have a philosophy; it's
called originalism. That's what prevents
him from
doing the things he would like to do," Justice Scalia
told more than 100 politicians and lawyers from
this U.S.
island territory.
Justices
Scalia and Alito Are Right.
Professor Strang Will Elaborate.
In a speech on February 13, 2006 sponsored by The
Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies,
Justice Scalia defended his long-held belief in sticking
to the plain text of the Constitution "as it was originally
written and intended."
God
bless Antonin Scalia, an Associate Justice of
the United States Supreme Court and a principled,
learned, and brilliant originalist ready, willing and
able to speak clearly, concisely and authoritatively
while less wise and less bold
persons hem and
haw.
Scalia
Text:
Constitutional Interpretation
the Old Fashioned Way
Justice Antonin Scalia delivered the
following remarks at the Woodrow Wilson
International Center for Scholars in Washington
D.C., on March 14, 2005.
JUSTICE SCALIA: It’s a pizzazzy
topic: Constitutional
Interpretation. It is however an important one. I was vividly
reminded how important it was last week when the Court
came out with a controversial decision in the Roper case.
And I watched one television commentary on the case in
which the host had one person defending the opinion on
the ground that people should not be
subjected to capital ..."
The
U.S. Supreme Court in
History and Today
By
Nancy Salvato
Feb 20, 2006,
The U.S. Supreme Court, with its nine black-
draped justices, is at the pinnacle of America's
third branch of government. It wields immense
power, but has sometimes stumbled badly in
exercising its influence. According to Article III,
Section 2, of the U.S. Constitution, "Judicial
Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and
Equity, arising under this Constitution ..." The
Supreme Court can hear some cases directly
(original jurisdiction) and some only when they're
appealed (appellate jurisdiction). The meaning
of jurisdiction is to interpret the law; therefore,
it is up to the Supreme Court to
interpret federal
law.
U.S.
Reclassifies Many Documents in
Secret Review
By SCOTT SHANE
WASHINGTON, Feb. 20 — In a seven-year-old
secret program at the National Archives, intelligence
agencies have been removing from public access
thousands of historical documents that were available
for years, including some already published by the
State Department and others photocopied years ago
by
private historians.
Sect
Allowed to Import Its
Hallucinogenic Tea
By LINDA GREENHOUSE
WASHINGTON,
Feb. 21 - A unanimous Supreme
Court decision on Tuesday gave a small
religious sect the right to keep importing an
hallucinogenic tea, central to its ritual observance,
that the government wants to ban as a
controlled substance under
federal narcotics law.
GAO
Report Reveals Millions
in Fraudulent Payouts for Katrina
PDF
FILE
FEMA
Flagged for Katrina ‘Fraud
and Abuse’
Audit finds agency never verified identity of aid
recipients, wasted millions
By Lisa Myers & the NBC Investigative Unit
Updated: 7:37 p.m. ET Feb. 10, 2006
WASHINGTON
- The first investigation of how the
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) did
in paying benefits to Hurricane Katrina victims suggests
massive fraud and the waste of millions of dollars of millions
of
taxpayer money.
Spies,
Lies and Wiretaps
A New York Times Editorial
January 29, 2006
A bit over a week ago, President Bush
and his men promised to provide the legal,
constitutional and moral justifications for
the sort of warrantless spying on Americans
that has been illegal for nearly 30 years. Instead,
we got the familiar mix of political spin, clumsy
historical misinformation, contemptuous
dismissals of civil liberties concerns, cynical
attempts to paint dissents as anti-American
and pro-terrorist, and a couple of big,
dangerous
lies.
Charges
Sought Against
Officer at Abu Ghraib
Lt. Col. Steven
L. Jordan would be the
first to be held criminally liable in the
Iraq abuse scandal. His supervisor,
granted immunity, may testify.
By Richard A. Serrano and Mark
Mazzetti, Times Staff Writers
WASHINGTON
— Army investigators have
recommended that criminal charges be filed
against a supervising military officer in the
abuse of detainees at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison,
according to Pentagon officials and legal
documents
obtained Thursday.
Bush
Could Seize Absolute
Control of U.S. Government
By DOUG THOMPSON
Publisher, Capitol Hill Blue
Jan 13, 2006, 07:42
President
George W. Bush has signed executive
orders giving him sole authority to impose martial
law, suspend habeas corpus and ignore the Posse
Comitatus Act that prohibits deployment
of U.S.
troops on American streets. This would give him
absolute dictatorial power over the government
with
no checks and balances.
Court Ruling Allows Challenge
to Bush's Faith Initiative
By Staff and Wire
Reports
Jan 15, 2006, 05:29
A
group can sue the federal government over claims
that President Bush's faith-based initiative is an
unconstitutional endorsement of religion, a federal
appeals court ruled.
A
three-judge panel of the 7th Circuit Court of
Appeals on Friday reinstated the lawsuit brought
by the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
The group
claims Bush's program, which helps religious
organizations get government funding to provide
social services, violates the separation of
church
and state.
Original
Intent
Revisionist rhetoric
notwithstanding,
the founders left God out of the
Constitution–and it wasn't an oversight.
Susan Jacoby
November/December 2005 Issue of Mother Jones.com
When
the Supreme Court, in one of its most important
decisions of 2005, ordered two Kentucky counties to
dismantle courthouse displays of the Ten Commandments,
Justice Antonin Scalia declared that
the Court majority
was wrong because the nation's historical practices clearly
indicate that the Constitution permits "disregard of polytheists
and believers in unconcerned deities, just as it permits
the disregard of devout atheists."
Fed
Courts Criticize Judges'
Handling of Immigration
Asylum Cases
By ADAM LIPTAK
Federal appeals court judges around the
nation have repeatedly excoriated immigration
judges this year for what they call a pattern
of biased and incoherent decisions in
asylum
cases.
Redistricting
Tom DeLay
The Supreme Court agreed
this week
to review Texas' 2003 Congressional
redistricting, which added five Republicans
to the state's delegation. The plan,
engineered by the former House majority
leader Tom DeLay, is rightly being challenged
as partisan and discriminatory against minority
voters. It is encouraging that the court has
decided
to step in.
Securities
Fraud Litigation Filed
Against Diebold, Inc.
By Brad Friedman
Eight Current and Former Ohio Executives
Named as Co-Defendants, Including former
CEO O'Dell and New CEO Swidarski
Class Action Suit Alleges Fraud, Insider
Trading, Manipulation of Stock Prices,
Concealment of Known Flaws in Voting
Machines and Company Structural Problems
The
suit was filed December 13, 2005 in U.S.
Federal District Court in Ohio and alleges the
company "artificially inflated" stock prices through
misleading public information designed to conceal
the true nature of Diebold's financial and legal
situation. The defendants are also alleged to have
attempted to disguise well-known and ongoing
problems with Diebold's Voting Machine
equipment
and software. Additionally, the suit alleges insider
trading by defendants resulting in proceeds of $2.7
million. Remedies are sought under the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934.
Supreme
Court to Hear Dispute
on Texas Redistricting
December 13, 2005
By LINDA GREENHOUSE
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 - The Supreme Court
announced on Monday that it would decide the
validity of the much-disputed Congressional map
that Texas Republicans pushed through the State
Legislature two years ago in a highly unusual mid-
decade redistricting that led to the loss of five
Democratic Congressional
seats.
Cheney
For Legalized Torture
Amid all the natural and
political disasters it
faces, the White House is certainly tireless in
its effort to legalize torture. This week, Vice
President Dick Cheney proposed a novel solution
for the moral and legal problems raised by the
use of American soldiers to abuse prisoners and
the practice of turning captives over to governments
willing to act as proxies in doing the torturing. Mr.
Cheney wants to make it legal for the Central
Intelligence Agency
to do this wet work.
Federal
Judge Condemns Intervention
in Schiavo Case
By ABBY GOODNOUGH
and WILLIAM YARDLEY
PINELLAS PARK, Fla., March 30 - A federal appeals
court in Atlanta refused Wednesday to reconsider
the case of Terri Schiavo, with one of the judges
rebuking President Bush and Congress for acting
"in a manner demonstrably at odds with our founding
fathers' blueprint for the governance
of a free people."
Judge
Blocks Rule Allowing
Companies to Cut Benefits When
Retirees Reach Medicare Age
By ROBERT PEAR
WASHINGTON, March 30 - A federal district
judge on Wednesday blocked a Bush administration
rule that would have allowed employers to reduce
or eliminate health benefits for retirees when they
reach age 65 and become eligible for Medicare.Ten
million retirees could have had benefits cut under
the rule, which was adopted last April by the Equal
Employment Opportunity
Commission.
How
to Protect Yourself from
the Schiavo Effect
Because Congress has unconstitutionally
usurped the courts in its attempt to bypass
the wishes of Terri Schiavo and her husband,
millions of Americans are asking how they
can protect themselves from a similar fate.
Here are a number of articles to help guide
you on how to avoid Terri Schiavo's
fate--
living as a vegetable for fifteen years.
Read
the Actual Legal
Arguments and Documents
in the Terri Schiavo Case
The
Schiavo Bill S. 686
The United States District Court for the
Middle
District of Florida shall have jurisdiction to hear,
determine, and render judgment on a suit or claim
by or on behalf of Theresa Marie Schiavo for the
alleged violation of any right of Theresa Marie
Schiavo under the Constitution or laws of the
United States relating to the withholding or
withdrawal of food, fluids, or medical treatment
necessary to sustain her life.
Congress'
action creates
legal tangle
Congress touched off a political firestorm with
its eleventh-hour effort to get Terri Schiavo's case
heard in federal court, but some legal experts say
the legislation raises even more pivotal questions
about limitations on congressional power.
What
Is Contempt of
Congress and What are
the Penalties?
Contempt of Congress is initiated
by a resolution from the affected
congressional committee. The
resolution must then be adopted.
Hypocrisy
of Bush, DeLay and
GOP Exposed!
Hospitals can end life support
Decision hinges on patient's ability to pay
A patient's inability to pay for medical care combined
with a prognosis that renders further care futile are
two reasons a hospital might suggest cutting off life
support, the chief medical officer at St. Luke's
Episcopal Hospital said Monday. Guess who signed
the bill? Yep. George W. Bush! All heart and caring!
Bush
says election ratified
Iraq policy 'Accountability moment'
has passed, president says
By Jim VandeHei and Michael A. Fletcher
The Washington Post "President Bush said the
public's decision to reelect him was a ratification
of his approach toward Iraq and that there was no
reason to hold any administration officials
accountable for mistakes or misjudgments in
prewar planning or managing the violent aftermath."
Vikram David Amar,
a
Constitutional law expert
explains: The Battle over
the Filibuster in the Senate
Part I.
Senate Filibuster:
Part II. by Vikram David Amar
Forgery
of Iraq-War-Justifying
Documents Done in the U.S.
According
to a Former Top U.S. Intelligence
Official on Los Angeles Radio Program
Los Angeles, Ca.--Vincent Cannistraro
is the
former Director of National Security Council Intelligence
under Ronald Reagan (’84-’87) and the former Chief
of Operations of the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center,
who led the investigation into the bombing of Pan
Am Flight 103. On April 3, 2005, he was interviewed
on Ian Masters' Background Briefing radio program,
which broadcasts from Los Angeles, California on
public radio. In the interview, Mr. Cannistraro made
a number of withering observations on the Bush
administration and the process failures
that led
to war.
The
John Dean Library of Articles
It
Appears That Karl Rove
Is In Serious Trouble
By John Dean
As
the scandal over the leak of CIA
agent Valerie Plame's identity has
continued to unfold, there is a renewed
focus on Karl Rove -- the White House
Deputy Chief of Staff whom President
Bush calls his
political "architect."
The
Ambassador's Article
Here's how it all started:
"What I Didn't Find in Africa"
Joseph
Wilson Fights Back
with a letter to the Senate Select Intelligence
Committee. Contrast Wilson's facts to
William Safire's New York Times column,
which attempts to destroy Mr. Wilson's
credibility in order to save President Bush.
Don't take our word for it, you be the judge!
The Empire Strikes Back!
The Ambassador's wife
is targeted.
One more criminal offense to investigate.
One more reason to appoint a
Special Prosecutor. By John Dean
John Dean gives the Wilsons
a sling shot and a stone to slay the
giant Empire.
John Dean's latest article
in Salon.com outlines the power of a single civil
suit aimed at a corrupt administration.
Dean says the Wilsons should file a
lawsuit. During the Nixon years, the
DNC filed the shot
that was heard
around the world causing Watergate
to explode and Nixon to resign.
John Dean takes a further look
at the criminal implications
of Ambassador
Wilson's
case and the leak exposing his
wife Valerie Plame.
Are There Grounds to
Impeach
Bush & Cheney?
Is Lying About The Reason
for War An
Impeachable
Offense? by John Dean
One of the most important
news analysis on the web:
John Dean analyzes the President's
State of the Union Speech and finds:
Eight deceptions that
violate federal
criminal statutes: "It is a criminal
offense
to make false statements to
Congress."
John Dean asks:
Has George W. Bush Met His Own
Ken Starr?
Read his analysis of presidential
lies.
Cheney Lied to Congress.
It's a violation of the
federal statute
and a criminal offense. John
Dean,
a former counsel to the President,
explains it.
John Dean studied the
9/11 Report
and boiled it down to this:
Either the Bush White
House knew
about the potential of terrorists flying
airplanes into skyscrapers or the CIA
failed to give the White House this
essential information, which it possessed
and provided to others. Bush is withholding
the document that answers this question.
Read Dean's startling
conclusion:
Bush Knew.
John Dean Exposes a Rogue
Republican Congress:
A $328 billion spending
bill, created in
secret, with giveaways galore, will be
the first order of business when Congress
returns in January. Dean says, "About half
of America has no voice in Congress at
all." Find out why Americans must object
to
a rubberstamp legislative branch.
The Serious Implications of
President Bush's Hiring A Personal
Outside Counsel for the Valerie Plame
Investigation
by John W. Dean
The Supreme Court's
Ruling on Cheney's Energy
Task Force: Still secret,
but
more litigation will follow by
John W. Dean
The Book Attacking
Kerry's War Record: How It Defames
the Candidate, and Why He Should Sue
By John W. Dean Unfit
For Command reeks of
actual malice. Senator Kerry would be doing
a
public service by suing by warding off
future baseless attacks.
Gay Rights
Without Borders
A human rights lawyer
cites the European Court
of Human Rights--the very
court Dominionists make it
illegal to cite and a reason
for impeachment of a judge
for even referencing in the
Constitution
Restoration
Act of 2004
San Francisco: Did
Mayor Gavin Newsom Err?
California statutes expressly
deny
same-sex couples the ability to
marry, but the law also recognizes
domestic partnerships between
same-sex couples. Joanna
Grossman, Hofstra University Law
Professor sorts it all out.
Courts May Be Stripped on Pledge
By Alexander Bolton
House Republican leaders have plans to pass
legislation that would strip courts of their
jurisdiction
to review cases.
Why Swift Boat Veterans for Truth
and Other 527 Organizations Can't
Be Silenced
By Michael C. Dorf. When
asked
whether he supports the attacks on John Kerry's
Vietnam War record by "Swift Boat Veterans
for Truth," President Bush has
repeatedly dodged the question.
Three Reasons Why Every American
must be concerned over judicial appointments,
so called "Tort Reform" schemes, and judicial
doctrines:
First Case: Prosecutors
Hid Evidence
from the Death Row Defendant and
knowingly presented perjured testimony
against him. What if
he were your son?
Edward Lazarus, a brilliant former federal
prosecutor tells us why justice is not working
in Texas on death penalty cases. The
Supreme
Court is about to decide on the case.
Second Case: What Newsweek's
"Lawsuit Hell" didn't tell you:
Fewer and fewer tort
plaintiffs actually get
their day in court. Fewer and fewer victims
actually get redress. Anthony Sebok, Professor
of Law at Brooklyn Law School tells you how
and why the Newsweek article was misleading.
Third Case: Can the Police Strip You
and
Search Your Naked Body in Public?
On December 4 of 2003
New York Police
Department officers violated the Fourth Amendment
right against unreasonable searches and seizures
when they stripped a suspect in the street in front
of a church. Rutgers' Law Professor Sherry Colb
tells you why
we should be concerned and that it could
happen to you.
Bush Administration's
Biggest Legal Setbacks
Vickram David Amar tells
us what the
recent appellate court decisions mean
to civil and legal
rights in the U.S.
Email Implicates Cheney
in Halliburton Contracts
According to an internal
Pentagon
e-mail sent by an Army Corps of
Engineers official, Cheney's office
"coordinated" the multibillion-dollar
Halliburton
contract.
How Jeb Bush is Seeking
to Appoint a Guardian
for a fetus that may,
if successful,
change women's rights over their
bodies. By Sherry F. Colb,
Professor
of Law.
The Gander Gambit:
Republican Exclusions
Cause Democrats to Play a New
Game: Senate Democrats
have outsmarted
and out manuvered Republicans who have
followed an exclusionary policy making
it impossible for Democrats to serve on
Conference
Committees. The Gander Gambit
Bush's War Against
Abortion and Privacy Rights:
For months in federal
courts the right
to have an abortion has been on trial.
The Bush administration Justice Dept.
does not recognize a physician-patient
privilege. Thousands of medical histories
have been subpoenaed and delivered
to the Justice Dept. for the purpose of
proving that a partial-birth abortion is
never necessary. Women's
rights
are being eroded on a daily basis.
Resegregating
the Schools:
Reactionaries appointed
by Republicans
to the federal courts are chipping
away at integration. Blacks are
being marched back into segregated
schools,
step by step. Bob Herbert
writes.
Why the ACLU Must Challenge
the FBI's Access to libraries
and
bookstores and business records
under
the USA Patriot Act.
How would Jesus Structure
Taxes? Tax the Poor A
Higher
Percentage than the Rich?
See Adam Cohen's
Report on Republican Governor
Bob
Riley of Alabama
Learning from the
California
Recall Experience
by Richard L. Hasen
One Reason Why Arnold
Won
Edward
Lazarus
Lingering Questions
Over Arnold's Win
Legitimacy and Its Basis
in the California Constitution
by
Vickram David Amar
The Controversy Over
the Pickering Appointment
Taking advantage of the
Senate's
recess, President Bush made a
"Judicial Recess Appointment."
Are such appointments constitutional?
Do they hurt the nomination process?
And what can the Democrats do about
it? Constitutional
expert Vikram
David Amar answers the questions.
The New, New Federalism?
A Supreme Court Case
to be Decided This
Term Tests Whether Congress Can Use Its
Spending Power to Create A Broad Federal
Crime of Bribery by Alafair Burke, Professor
of Law at Hofstra Law School
Ashcroft Refuses
to Release Memo to Senate
Judiciary Committee
A 50 page memo describing
the permissable
degrees of pain and suffering legally
allowed by the U.S., which had been
released in part to news agencies,
was
at issue in possible contempt
of Congress charges.
Text of Ashcroft
Statements Before Senate
Judiciary Committee
The complete text of
Ashcroft's
statements now available to
examine
for possible Contempt
of Congress charges
Cheney's Staff Suspected
Federal law-enforcement
officials said
two of the Veep's top staff members
are suspects in the criminal investigation
of
the leak outing CIA undercover agent
Valerie Plame.
Scalia Refuses to
Recuse himself from a Supreme Court
case centering on his
friend Dick
Cheney. The Justice went hunting
with
Cheney but no collusion ocurred.
The Supreme Court Hears
Case on Why Detaining U.S.
citizens without charges
and for an indefinite
period of time--does
not violate the
Constitution.
Republican Forced Exclusion of
Democrats from legislative
participation
violates House and Senate tradition and places
an ominous threat over the democratic process
as it disenfranchises fifty percent of Americans
from representative government. Read
the facts
from the congressional editor of the Washington
Post.
Did Some Go Too Far to
Change A No to a Yes on Medicare?
R. Jeffrey Smith, Washington
Post staff
reporter exposes the threats and bribes
used against House Representatives.
This
may turn out to be the biggest
scandal in our history.
Settlement Is Reached With Enron
By JAD MOUAWAD
Published: July 16, 2005
More than four years after rolling blackouts and
skyrocketing electricity bills shook California and
the rest of the West Coast, the Enron Corporation
finally settled claims that it played a major role in
the energy
crisis of 2000 and 2001
California's Recall of Gov. Gray
Davis is Unconstitutional. Part I.
Can Arnold's Victory
be Reversed?
Two distinguished law professors
point out that an important part of the law
is unconstitutional. Read this article to
see what could
be done with the right
plaintiff filing the right lawsuit.
What About the Governor's
Claim
to run as his own successor? No merit. Part II.
But the fear of a fringe
winner is serious.
Part Two of Vik Amar's California Series
explaining
the legal ins and outs of the Recall.
A Mixed Verdict on the California
Supreme Court's Decision:
Part III of a Series on the Recall
By VIKRAM DAVID AMAR AND
ALAN E. BROWNSTEIN
On Wednesday, August 20, a federal
district
judge rejected the ACLU's request to push back
California's Oct. 7 recall. The ACLU had challenged
the use of outmoded punch card balloting machines
in certain
highly-populated counties.
Reflections on the California Recall
The Lingering Questions Over Its Legitimacy,
And Its Basis in the California Constitution
As the world now knows, the California
gubernatorial
recall campaign was successful, in the sense that
Governor Gray Davis was recalled. California will
now
have a new governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Gray Davis Fights Back:
Files
Lawsuit to delay election and to insert
his name as a replacement candidate.
Readers of the professors' article (above)
will know why Davis' move is wrong.
(Someone should
have told the governor to
read our professors.)
Did the California Supreme Court
lose its golden opportunity to rise
above politics in its
decision on
the Recall Election of Gov. Gray Davis?
Vikram Amar and Alan Brownstein
give a critical
review of the court's
one fell swoop decision.
The California Energy
Fraud Cases
Fraud Traced to the White House
How California’s energy scam was inextricably
linked to a war for oil scheme
By Katherine Yurica
This story begins with the California
energy crisis,
which started in 2000 and continued through the
early months of 2001, when electricity prices spiked
to their highest levels. Prices went from $12 per
megawatt hour in 1998 to $200 in December 2000 to
$250 in January 2001, and at times a megawatt
cost $1,000.
How Bush Pushed Gasoline
Prices Sky High
by Katherine Yurica
With a little
manipulation of the Strategic Petro-
leum Reserves, a little change in the rules, and
a little chutzpah, billions of dollars rolled into
the
back pockets of Big Oil.
Appeals Court Backs Cheney in
Secrecy Case
How come the Yurica Report knows who
advised Mr. Cheney and who wrote the
U.S. Energy Policy?
Settlement Is Reached With Enron
By JAD MOUAWAD
Published: July 16, 2005
More than four years after rolling blackouts and
skyrocketing electricity bills shook California and
the rest of the West Coast, the Enron Corporation
finally settled claims that it played a major role in
the energy crisis of 2000
and 2001
Document Reveals Mr. Bush
Took Aim at Iraqi Oil Before the 2000 Election
Answers Why Mr. Cheney
Has Fought So
Hard to Keep Secrets
August 28, 2004
By Katherine
Yurica
Bush's Energy Policy
The Baker Institute Press Release on the Report
GAO Report to Congress On Energy Task Force
GAO Chronology Energy
Enron May Have Influenced FERC Probe
Emails Show Enron May Have Influenced FERC
Probe On Calif. Power Crisis, Refunds
By Jason Leopold
Did bankrupt energy company Enron
Corp. influence
a controversial decision federal energy regulators
made in November 2000 saying California wasn't
entitled to more than $3 billion in refunds from power
companies who allegedly gamed the state's wholesale
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