Law and Disorder July 21, 2008 [57:29m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Updates:

• Omar Khadr - Video - First Military Commissions Trial To Go Forward
• Ali al-Marri - Key case defining enemy combatant - update with Jonathan Hafetz
• Salim Ahmed Hamdan Decision

Update: Canadian Rendition Victim Maher Arar

Last month, in the Maher Arar case, the Federal Court of Appeals ruled a 2-1 majority refusing to hold US authorities accountable for complicity in torture abroad. As Law and Disorder listeners may remember, Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen, traveling back to Canada, was picked up at JFK airport in 2002, detained in solitary confinement for 2 weeks by the US government then deported to Syria where he was interrogated and tortured. Cases involving diplomatic assurances in North America.

Last year, a Canadian commission of inquiry cleared Arar of any links to terrorism and he was given a 10.5 million dollar settlement. Since then, the United States refused to clear his name and now this majority decision rules that his constitutional claims can not be heard in federal court for two reasons. The first reason was based on national security, the second because Mr. Arar, a dual citizen of Canada and Syria, does not have constitutional, due process rights.

Guest - Maria LaHood, Attorney with the Center For Constitutional Rights.

–

Deepening Economic Crisis: How Deep, Where Is It Headed, Who is Accountable?

To many, the recent economic downturn could be a rough patch to a full collapse as a financial crisis hits the nation’s markets; add in that the United States is nine months into a significant acceleration in expected energy and food price increases. The distressful interaction is known as a “scissors crisis” among economists. We’ll also discuss the economic sub-genres, such as Military Keynesianism, GWOT spending, and housing markets. This, while Californians made a run on IndymacBank, the biggest bank crisis since 1984. Indymac was started by three former high level people from Countrywide.

Quote: “Even though Iraq is a bad idea, the value of the US military to this country is rising not falling.”

Guests - Rick Wolff, Professor of Economics at University of Massachusetts at Amherst Rick teaches at the Brecht Forum and the New School in New York City. (Read Rick’s article, Economic Blues in the Monthly Review)

Max Fraad Wolff , freelance researcher, strategist, and writer in the areas of international finance and macroeconomics. Max’s work can be seen at the Huffington Post, The AsiaTimes, Prudent Bear, SeekingAlpha and many other outlets.

——————————————————————————

 

 Law and Disorder July 14, 2008 [55:58m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Hosts Update:

• Bush Signs Spy Bill, ACLU Sues
• FISA - Surveillance Society: How They Voted
  
• Mumia Abu-Jamal’s Long Shot Appeal For Reversal of Last Year’s Third Circuit Ruling
• LAD/J.Patrick O’Connor Interview
• Secret US-Iraq “Status of Forces” Agreement Would Preserve Human Rights Violations, Torture Policies In Iraq
• Related: Is Torture by Music a “Performance in Public”?

Abu Ghraib Torture Lawsuits Target Military Contractors in US Courts.

Four former Abu Ghraib detainees are suing two U.S. military contractor corporations and three individual contractors. The four were wrongly imprisoned, tortured and later released without charge. According to the complaints, the defendants abused detainees physically and mentally and then destroyed documents, videos and photographs; prevented the reporting of the torture and abuse to the International Committee of the Red Cross. They actually hid detainees and other prisoners from the Red Cross; and misled non-conspiring military and government officials about the state of affairs at the Iraq prisons.

The defendants are CACI International Inc. and CACI Premier Technology, Inc., of Arlington, Va.; L-3 Services Inc., an Alexandria, Va.-based division of L-3 Communications Corp. and three individual contractors, Adel Nakhla, of Maryland, Timothy Dugan, of Ohio, and Daniel Johnson, of Seattle.

Guest - Attorney Susan Burke with Burke O’Neil LLC.
–

ACLU To Prevent Deportation Of Egyptian To Torture

The American Civil Liberties Union and ACLU of Pennsylvania challenged the government’s efforts to deport an Egyptian torture victim of Sameh Khouzam. The government claims to be relying on unreviewable “diplomatic assurances” from Egypt that it will not torture him upon his return. Last January, in the first decision of its kind, a federal district court sided with the ACLU and ordered the government to stop the deportation of Sameh Khouzam based on such secret and unreliable promises and release him under conditions of supervision.

However, the Bush administration appealed this ruling, claiming that the executive branch has unfettered authority to deport Khouzam and to detain him indefinitely pending his legal proceedings. Khouzam, a Christian who came to the United States in 1998 fleeing religious persecution in Egypt and a charge of murder, was granted protection from deportation under the Convention Against Torture (CAT) in 2004. This after a federal appeals court found that he would likely be tortured if sent back to Egypt.

Guest - Lee Gelernt, senior staff attorney with ACLU who is working on Sameh’s case.

–

US Soldiers Lose Haven in Canada

Last week, Courage to Resist, Veterans for Peace, and Project Safe Haven took to the streets of major US cities in a national day of action. Recently, the Canadian Federal Court sided for the first time with a US war resister, disagreeing with the Immigration and Refugee Board decision and ordering a re-hearing for military deserter Joshua Key, his wife Brandi, and their four children.

Josh Key moved to Canada during a 2 week leave from the Army. On July 4th, 2008, Joshua Key won a Federal Court appeal thus forcing the Refugee board to re-examine his asylum claim of conscientious objector and Iraq war veteran. The court ruled that Key had been forced to systematically violate the Geneva Conventions as part of his military service in Iraq and that such misconduct amounts to a legitimate refugee claim.

In another case, former National Guard soldier Corey Glass of Fairmount Indiana is facing deportation from Canada. He was recently told that his application to stay in Canada for “humanitarian and compassionate” reasons has been rejected. This, as Pentagon officials suggest he has been discharged and the U.S. Army is not seeking to persecute Glass. But Glass’ lawyer, Alyssa Manning of Parkdale Legal Community Services, says the reports are untrue. Manning says quote “He would be a felon, he’d be criminally inadmissible to Canada; he’d potentially be imprisoned as well as subjected to non-traditional punishment such as ‘hazing’ (within the military)

Canada: Abide by resolution - Let U.S. war resisters stay!

Guest - Matthis Chiroux with Iraq Veterans Against the War.

——————————-

 

 Law and Disorder June 16, 2008 [58:03m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Updates: Landmark Win: Guantánamo Detainees Have Constitutional Right to Habeas Corpus

Federal jury awards $6.2 million in Taser death lawsuit

Here on Law and Disorder we’ve talked with many guests on the dangers of Taser stun guns. Recently Taser International Inc., the largest stun-gun maker, lost a $6.2 million jury verdict over the death of a California man who died after police shot him multiple times with the weapon. A San Jose, California jury says that Taser failed to warn the police of Salinas, California that prolonged exposure to Tasr’s electric shock could cause a risk of heart attack. The 40 year old victim Robert Heston died February 20, 2005 after his father had called Salinas police because his son was “acting strangely,” and seemed to be on drugs, according to the lawsuit complaint.

This is the first defeat for Taser International in a product-liability claim. Though, a product liability claim, another issue of concern is how police abuse and torture people indiscriminately with tasers.

• Nearly 400 people in the United States have been killed in Taser-related deaths in the past 7 years.
• Stun guns are already widely abused on people who take too long to pull out ID, who are loud in public, elderly, disabled or in the wrong place at the wrong time.
• Medical examiners are afraid to rule Tasers as the primary or contributory cause of death out of fear of retribution. In meetings with coroners, Taser International has actually threatened to sue if stun guns are cited on death certificates.
• Taser International has formed questionable PR ties with law enforcement. It established and funded the Taser Foundation for Fallen Officers in 2004.
• Taser International Slogan: Saving Lives Everday

Guest: Civil rights attorney John Burton who litigated the case. Burton says there are 68 more Taser-related death cases to be litigated.

–

The Cuban Five: 11th Circuit Court Upholds Convictions

We’ve been following the case of the Cuban Five for years. Last week, the 11th U.S. District Court of Appeals in Atlanta upheld the convictions of the Cuban Five who are serving long prison sentences charged with spying and conspiracy to commit murder. The Five were falsely accused by the U.S. government of committing espionage conspiracy against the United States, and other related charges.

The Five pointed out vigorously in their defense that they were involved in monitoring the actions of Miami-based terrorist groups, in order to prevent terrorist attacks on their country of Cuba. The Five’s actions were never directed at the U.S. government. They never harmed anyone nor ever possessed nor used any weapons while in the United States. The Cuban Five are five Cuban men who are in U.S. prison, serving four life sentences and 75 years collectively, after being wrongly convicted in U.S. federal court in Miami, on June 8, 2001.

Cuban Five: Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and René González.

Guest: Len Weinglass - U.S. Civil Rights Attorney and Activist

 

 Law and Disorder May 12, 2008 [57:57m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Updates:

• Massive Civil Disobediance Protesting The Murder Of Sean Bell
• Lawyers Continue Move To Get Torture Memo Author Yoo Tried As War Criminal
• NYCLU Study: NYPD Arrests And Jails Nearly 400 Thousand For Marijuana In 10 Years.

–

Taking Back The Right To Dissent: The Case of the Bangor Six

Recently, jurors in the Case of the ‘Bangor Six’ brought back a decisive verdict of ‘not guilty.’ The six veterans for peace, anti war protesters were arrested in March of last year after refusing to leave the federal building where their senator, Republican Susan Collins has her office. The six activists were among 12 that say they were protesting Bush’s proposal to increase troops in Iraq to support a military strategy known s the surge and also urged Collins to vote against continued funding for the war. Collins did not vote against funding for the war and did not meet with activists. Six of the activists were later arrested. (Collins Watch)

Now, during this trial, the jury was allowed by the judge to decide whether the defendants believed that they were not guilty in making a conscious choice to break Maine law because they thought international law was being violated. The jurors decided unanimously that the protesters did believe they had the ‘license and privilege’ to act as they did, in rendering the ‘not guilty’ verdict.

Guest - Bar Harbor attorney Lynne Williams, also with Maine Lawyers for Democracy a group of 65 Maine lawyers, calling for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

List of Bangor Six - Jonathan Kreps, 57, of Appleton, Henry Braun, 77, of Wells, James Freeman, 59, of Verona, Dudley F. Hendrick, 66, of Deer Isle, Douglas Rawlings, 61, of Chesterville, and Robert Shetterly, 61, of Brooksville,
chose to go to trial. The other six pleaded guilty and paid fines.

–

2008 Left Forum Opening Plenary: Adam Hochschild and Naomi Klein

We go now to hear two speeches from this year’s Left Forum Opening Plenary from author/ professor Adam Hochschild and writer/ filmmaker Naomi Klein author of The Shock Doctrine. The Left Forum was titled Cracks In The Edifice. The many panels at the 2008 Left Forum addressed and challenged the current economic and political catastrophes in the United States and discussed possibilities for social movements to build better world in its place.

We’ve interviewed Adam previously on Law and Disorder about his books, King Leopold’s Ghost and Bury The Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire’s Slaves. He’s the co-founder of Mother Jones magazine and teaches at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California Berkeley. In his speech Hochschild uses the ideas of early activism to abolish slavery as models for the current civil rights movement.

In her speech, Naomi Klein discusses how the lack of response in the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and the illegal wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are intentional strategies she calls “disaster capitalism.” At the 2008 Left Forum Naomi suggests that many in the United States have woken up to roughshod profiteering of disaster capitalism.

A special thank you to Lisa Rudman with Making Contact for recording the Left Forum Opening Plenary

 

 Law and Disorder May 5, 2008 [58:02m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Updates:

• Disneyland To Be Built In Iraq
• Supreme Court Ruling: ID Card For Indiana Voters
• U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney: Leaving No Tracks

Operation Torch:  Heavily Armed Subway Patrols Making New York City Safer?

A couple weeks ago our own co-host Heidi Boghosian described how under cover policemen and a K9 unit were intimidating a subway rider on the platform with the dog barking viciously near his face. We’ll follow up on that story and also talk about the teams of police armed with MP5 submachine guns, body armor and bomb sniffing dogs now patrolling the subway systems of New York City. They’re called Torch Teams. Torch, an acronym for Transit Operational Response With Canine and Heavy Weapons. The teams are funded to patrol in 12 hour shifts everyday, Penn Station, Herald Square, Columbus Circle, Rockefeller Center Times Square and Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn.

Co-host Michael Smith also commented on the use of police car convoys (photo above) that rally at ground zero and run up the FDR with lights blazing. Moore says it’s a federally funded event that acts as “window dressing” but he says, when you see police state displays such as Operation Torch and the police car convoys, know that it is only the tip of the iceberg. We’ll be investigating more on the depth of the police state in weeks to come.

Guest: Jonathan Moore, attorney with the National Police Accountability Project

–

Torture and Democracy

Here on Law and Disorder we’ve taken an in depth look at torture with various authors and guests including authors Al McCoy, Marnia Lazreg and Henri Alleg. Today we speak with Reed College professor Darius Rejali, author of the book Torture and Democracy. In this book, Rejali tracks behaviors, trends and traditions that have brought torture to where we see it has emerged today. Rejali, a leading expert on government interrogation techniques, argues that torture is an ancient craft and technique passed on from teacher to apprentice.

Rejali says knowledge of the torture craft often flows both ways between colonial powers and occupied peoples. This is a powerful book filled with information on techniques. One review writes, this book lays the groundwork, torturers and their keepers may find it useful, not as an academic study but as a field manual.

Guest - Professor Darius Rejali

 

 Law and Disorder March 3, 2008 [55:23m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Civil Rights Attorney Lynne Stewart Describes Larry Davis Case

Today we welcome back civil rights attorney Lynne Stewart to discuss the recent stabbing death of Larry Davis in an upstate New York prison. Davis became known in the 80s when he was suspected of murdering drug dealers in the city. When police raided his apartment, Davis fired a pistol and shotgun from a darkened room and fled.

After more than a two week NYPD manhunt, Davis was captured. Davis’ legal defense included Lynne Stewart and prominent civil rights attorney Bill Kunstler who provided evidence of a frame up. In a recent New York Times article chronicling Davis’ story, it was written that Davis’ defense was quote made up of assertions without evidence.

Guest - Lynne Stewart

-

Film Documentary: Taxi To The Dark Side

Alex Gibney’s Taxi To The Dark Side examines the use of torture by the United States. The horrors of Abu Ghraib , Guantanamo and Bagram prisons are revealed in this movie with disturbing and ugly clarity. Law and Disorder hosts talk about the film with Al McCoy, author of A Question of Torture “A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation, From the Cold War to the War on Terror” Professor McCoy tells listeners about how medieval water torture exploits the Mammalian diving reflex a “death” experience hard wired into human biology. U.S. Army and CIA interrogation manuals

Guest - Al McCoy, professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Author of “A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation, From the Cold War to the War on Terror” and also “The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade.”

 

 Law and Disorder February 25, 2008 [58:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

• Hosts Update: Fidel Castro and Cuba in the news.
  

Encore Segment: Naomi Wolf - The End of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot

Law and Disorder hosts were live in the studio with Naomi Wolf. Naomi Wolf is a feminist, social critic and political activist. The New York Times called her book, The Beauty Myth, one of the most important books of the 20th century. Wolf is the co-founder of The Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership, teaching young women to become leaders and agents of change. Naomi Wolf blog in the Huffington Post

Her latest book The End of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot is a call to return to the beliefs of our founding fathers. Wolf’s new book illustrates ten steps historically taken by leaders who are attempting to dismantle a democracy. Wolf jokingly called it the The Greatest Hits of Facism.

In The End of America, Wolf gives voice to the cause of every American patriot: the preservation of the Constitution and the liberties it embodies and protects.

“Recent history has profound lessons for us in the U.S. today about how fascist, totalitarian, and other repressive leaders seize and maintain power, especially in what were once democracies. The secret is that these leaders all tend to take very similar, parallel steps. The Founders of this nation were so deeply familiar with tyranny and the habits and practices of tyrants that they set up our checks and balances precisely out of fear of what is unfolding today. We are seeing these same kinds of tactics now closing down freedoms in America, turning our nation into something that in the near future could be quite other than the open society in which we grew up and learned to love liberty,” stated Wolf.

–

Servants of Wealth: The Right’s Assault on Economic Justice

“Freedom and democracy” are two words we’ve been hearing from the right wing in this country for 25 years. In their quest to shore up support for the politics of wealth and privilege, the Right has organized patiently and consistently by focusing on a core ideology to amass a formidable base. The Right’s commentary on world affairs, morality, the state, and the economy, though, has had an overarching focus, namely to eliminate social equality as a legitimate public policy goal. Its success has resulted in one of the most dramatic, undemocratic, and insidious transfers of wealth and power in recent American history.

Guest - John Ehrenberg, author of the book “Servants of Wealth: The Right’s Assault on Economic Justice.” A professor of political science at Long Island University, in this, his third book, critically analyzes the rise of an ideologically coherent Right. He dissects their themes of military weakness, moral decay, racial anxiety, and hostility to social welfare to reveal their central organizing objective of protecting wealth and assaulting equality.

_

 

 Law and Disorder February 4, 2008 [57:37m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Hosts Update - US Attorney General Refuses to Say Waterboarding Is Torture

–

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit Hears Lynne Stewart’s Arguments

Law and Disorder hosts welcome back civil rights attorney Lynne Stewart. Lynne Stewart has been free on bail pending appeal since federal judge John Koeltl gave her a 28 month sentence in October 2006. As you may recall Lynne Stewart was initially facing up to 30 years after being found guilty of conspiring to aid terrorists. She was convicted of distributing press releases on behalf of her jailed client–Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman –also known as the blind sheikh–who is serving a life sentence on terror-related charges.

Here on Law and Disorder we’ve followed Lynne Stewart’s case as it contains key breaches of civil liberties such as government eavesdropping into attorney/ client conversations.

• New York Law Journal article on Lynne’s Appeals Hearing
• Click here to download the full Appeal Brief in Lynne’s case

–

Pro-independence Puerto Ricans subpoenaed by NYC grand jury

Three Puerto Rican activists and artists have been ordered to appear before a Brooklyn federal grand jury. The activists are graphic designer Tania Frontera, social worker Christopher Torres and filmmaker Julio Antonio Pabon.

Federal grand jury investigations are secret by law. There are indications that it is part of a probe into the Popular Boricua Army (EPB)-Macheteros, a rebel pro-independence group whose leader, Filiberto Ojeda Rios, was killed by FBI agents in Puerto Rico on Sept. of 2005. The FBI is also trying to locate Hector Rivera, one of the founders of the Welfare Poets, a New York-based collective of activists and poets, in order to serve him with a subpoena. Supporters of the three activists speculated that the FBI had aimed at harassing the Puerto Rican legal movement to obtain independence for the U.S. territory.

Guest - Robert Boyle with the National Lawyers Guild.

—
Michael Ratner on Real News : Will Bush’s Illegal Wiretapping Be Made Legal?

 

 Law and Disorder Jan. 28, 2008 [58:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Updates:

• Jose Padilla Is Sentenced to 17 Years - The sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke marks another step in the extraordinary personal and legal odyssey for the 37-year-old Muslim convert, a U.S. citizen who was held for 3 years as an enemy combatant after his 2002 arrest amid the “dirty bomb” allegations. He had faced up to life in prison.
• Canada Puts U.S. and Israel on Torture Watch List: Not For Long The document cites the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay and lists U.S. interrogation techniques including “forced nudity, isolation, and sleep deprivation.” Other countries on the list include Israel, Syria, China, Iran and Afghanistan. Canada’s regret to include US and Israel on a list of states where prisoners are at risk of torture.

Gaza Siege Crisis Deepens
Israel has ordered closure of all crossings into the Gaza Strip. All goods continue to be blocked, including humanitarian supplies from the UN. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees condemned the move, saying it will only worsen an already dire situation. Israel says its trying to thwart rocket attacks on the nearby Israeli town of Sderot.
Guest - Muna Coobtee, Muna is with the Free Palestine Alliance, and the Answer Coalition in Los Angeles.

–

Magna Carta Manifesto: Liberties and Commons For All

Magna Carta Manifesto is the title of Peter Linebaugh’s new book. In it he provides a sweeping history of the Magna Carta. Originally issued in 1215, the Magna Carta was the most significant early influence on the extensive historical process that led to the rule of constitutional law today. One review reads, ” the book shines a fierce light on the current state of liberty and shows how longstanding restraints against tyranny such as the rights of habeas corpus, trial by jury and the prohibition of torture are being abridged.”

Guest - Author Peter Linebaugh, University of Toledo professor and also author of many books and the article, “The Secret History of the Magna Carta.”

–

Co-host Michael Ratner’s response to Canada’s Foreign Minister apologising for including the US and Israel on a list of states where prisoners are at risk of torture. Real News.

 

 Standard Podcast [56:05m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

World Marks GTMO’s Sixth Year
January 11th marks six years of imprisonment for the more than 300 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. Last year on Law and Disorder we had taken listeners through a brief history of the Guantanamo Bay Prison, how they got there and what it means for civil liberties in the United States. We continue to examine the civil liberties issues and we’ll look at how attorneys and activists are involved in getting prisoners released.

• Hosts Update: Settlement on Use of Central Park’s Great Lawn - Congratulations to NLG members Mara Verheyden-Hilliard and Carl Messineo in this important victory for the First Amendment in NYC! In addition to rescinding the rule limiting public events on the Great Lawn, the National Council of Arab Americans and ANSWER will each receive $25K and the City will reimburse $500,000 in attorneys costs and fees.
• Hosts remember Philip Agee, the former Central Intelligence Agency officer who turned against the agency and spent years exposing undercover American spies overseas, passed away at his home in Havana last week.

–

Amnesty International Leading Worldwide Rallies and Demonstrations

Many organizations and activists are staging powerful demonstrations this week protesting the sixth anniversary of the US detention camp at Guantánamo Bay and demanding the release of the men held there. Protesters will again don masks and the trademark orange suits associated with the prisoners and shuffle through public spaces.

Guest - Jumana Musa a human rights attorney and activist. She is currently the Advocacy Director for Domestic Human Rights and International Justice at Amnesty International, where she addresses the domestic and international impact of the Bush administration’s “war on terror” on human rights. She has also served as Amnesty International’s legal observer at military commission proceedings at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

—

Efforts to Release Yemen Prisoners From Guantanamo

Though this sixth anniversary is a day of acknowledgment of the illegal imprisonment and torture of prisoners in Guantanamo, it also a call on governments across the world to lobby for the release of their residents. About 100 Yemenis are being held at Guantanamo, making them the biggest group among the approximately 275 detainees there, according to Yemen’s media.

A conference held in Yemen this week is aiming to secure the release of more Yemeni prisoners from Guantanamo. The conference is encouraging a wide coalition of religious leaders, NGOs and family members of prisoners to press for the release of the men. Since 2002, 12 Yemeni prisoners have been released from Guantanamo Bay prison. More than a third of Guantanamo prisoners are from Yemen. Yemen is on the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia, bordered by Saudi Arabia to the North and the Red Sea to the West.

Guest - Pardiss Kebriaei, an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights. She specializes in international litigation, working within the Inter-American, European and UN human rights systems, and in foreign jurisdictions including the Philippines, India, Nepal, Thailand, and Colombia.

—

Washington DC Protests and Demonstrations. More than 80 Arrested.

Accounts of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment have been condemned by the United Nations, Human Rights Watch and other reputable bodies. The Center for Constitutional Rights has led the effort to get Guantanamo closed down and get prisoners the rights they’re entitled under International Law and the U.S. Constitution.

Guest - Vince Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights was at one the many demonstrations in Washington DC. He spent seven years as national senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), where he led national constitutional and impact litigation to advance civil rights and civil liberties.