Posts by Daphne Eviatar
Supreme Court shuts door on Gitmo torture case
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court dealt a harsh blow on Monday to victims of abuse by U.S. officials during the “war on terror.” The court announced it would not review a federal appeals court ruling that dismissed a lawsuit by four British citizens who claim they were wrongly arrested, detained and mistreated at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay. The Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington had ruled in April that government officials were entitled to “qualified immunity” from suit because it wasn’t clear at the time that abusing Guantanamo prisoners at was illegal.
Bachmann: Trying 9/11 mastermind in U.S. is “slap in the face” of victims
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Franken challenges Napolitano on imprisonment of asylum seekers
WASHINGTON — Sen. Al Franken asked Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing this morning why it is that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is imprisoning people coming to the United States seeking asylum from…
Democrats divided on Patriot Act
Republicans and Democrats have been sniping about the USA Patriot Act ever since Congress passed the law in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks to try to forestall another such disaster. But now, it’s the Democrats who are sniping among themselves about it.
Defense Department conceals data on detainee deaths
As University of Minnesota bioethicist and torture expert Dr. Steven Miles was researching the deaths of detainees in U.S. custody, he noticed something strange. Although the Department of Defense had in the past issued press releases when detainees died at U.S.-run prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan, at some point in 2006, he says, the “entire prisoner death reporting system was turned off in Afghanistan.” Although at that time deaths in Iraq were still being reported, he says, that system was “turned off” at the beginning of 2008.
Rep. Joe Wilson unearths secret plot to provide undocumented immigrants with free health care
What else could explain his outburst — “You
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Anti-immigration activists see opportunity in health care debate
As the heat gets turned up on the health care reform debate, anti-immigrant activists are using the issue to whip up fear and anger toward immigrants, portraying them as a costly and burdensome drain on any taxpayer-supported U.S. health care system.
DOJ abortion violence suits cratered under Bush
Last week, it was revealed that the law that makes it a federal crime to threaten or commit violence against abortion providers, or to vandalize their clinics, wasn’t being enforced. Now our sister site, the Washington Independent, finds that the Bush administration’s Department of Justice did little over the past eight years in enforcing the civil component of that federal law.
Obama administration sending mixed messages over detentions
A Guantanamo detainee’s transfer to the United States for trial is at odds with the president’s call for a new system of indefinite imprisonment.
GOP support for No Child Left Behind conflicts with attacks on Sotomayor
Many of the same conservatives criticizing Sonia Sotomayor for her decision in a reverse discrimination case once supported a race-based initiative: No Child Left Behind.
