Law and Disorder February 11, 2008 [57:28m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

US NLG Delegation in Pakistan Reports Back On the Rule of Law

A delegation from the National Lawyers Guild has released a preliminary report on its findings regarding the impacts of the Proclamation of the Emergency in Pakistan. The report found that anything short of restoring the judges deposed on last November 2007 will have long lasting negative impacts on the judiciary and rule of law in Pakistan. The delegation also noted structural problems in the pre-election climate such as lack of an independent judiciary, allowing free and fair elections nearly impossible. Here is the NLG Pakistan Delegation report.

The delegation’s findings are based on over 50 interviews with political party leaders, lawyers, members of civil society, government officials, judges, students and journalists in Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta and Islamabad.

Guest - David Gespass, the Vice President of the National Lawyers Guild, he has led a delegation of American lawyers to Pakistan to show solidarity with the Pakistani lawyers demanding a return to the rule of law and to oversee and assist with preparations for the upcoming election in that country.

The National Lawyers’ Guild Calls for Demonstrations in Solidarity with Lawyers in Pakistan: Co-hosts Heidi Boghosian and Michael Smith speak with lawyers and activists on the street. — Listen to past program - Law and Disorder November 19, 2007

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Bricks in the Wall: How a U.S. Police State Is Being Built

We hear a speech by Nation correspondent Roberto Lovato who spoke at the Brecht Forum. The event examined the near completion since 9/11 of the infrastructure for a police state in the US, including its legal and ideological apparatus. Co-host Michael Steven Smith and Vince Warren Executive Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights. were also among the speakers.

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Illusions of Security: Global Surveillance and Democracy in the Post-9/11 World

Here on Law and Disorder we’ve covered in depth the scope of surveillance bearing down on the lives of people in a post 9/11 society. From intrusive RFID technology to phone companies and airlines handing over private consumer data to the FBI. Webb constructs a clear sense of the emerging panopticon singularity. The Panopticon Singularity bears a strong resemblance to the concept of “ubiquitous law enforcement.”

Excerpt from book: “Surveillance in a world of risk preemption requires that everyone be evaluated as a potential suspect in order to eliminate risk to the furthest degree possible. In this paradigm, the criminal law and due process protections that have been developed over centuries in democratic societies - such as the presumption of innocence; habeas corpus and rights against arbitrary, indefinite detention; attorney-client privilege; public trial; the right to know the evidence against one and to respond; the right against unreasonable search and seizure; and the right to remain silent - are viewed as intolerable risks.”

Guest - Canadian human rights lawyer Maureen Webb, she is the author of Illusions of Security: Global Surveillance and Democracy in the Post-9/11 World. In the book, Webb examines how governments worldwide follow the lead of the Bush administration in using quote terrorism as an excuse for public surveillance and information gathering.

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 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

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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

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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.

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

 

 Law and Disorder Dec.31, 2007 [58:33m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

On this last day of 2007, Law and Disorder will look at the stories that have taken civil liberties in this country many steps in the wrong direction. We start with the question of impeachment, what happened, why it stalled, we’ll look at damaging supreme court decisions and draconian legislation that took large bite out of the right to free speech and dissent in this country.

We begin by checking in with John Nirenberg, he’s marching from Boston to Washington DC. His goal, to walk 485 miles to deliver his message of impeachment to Nancy Pelosi. Nirenberg explains to hosts how after reading The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil. One slogan from www.marchinmyname.org reads. . . “when voting isn’t enough, when letter writing isn’t enough, when signing petitions isn’t enough, when outrage isn’t enough.”

Guest - John Nirenberg former Professor of Organizational Behavior. He started his career as a Social Studies and American History teacher.

Impeachment?

Hosts discuss the “magnificent failure on impeachment followed by the continued approval for war funding in Iraq and Afghanistan and connect it with the Executive Order: Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who Threaten Stabilization Efforts in Iraq.

Co-host Michael Ratner enumerates several key stories of torture in 2007, including the destruction of the CIA videotapes, the Mahar Arar case, and the confirmation of Attorney General Michael Mukasey who says he’s not certain if water-boarding is torture.

Law and Disorder hosts then talk about the recent Supreme Court arguments regarding the remaining Guantanamo Bay Cuba detainees and the horrible failure to restore habeas corpus. This case may determine once and for all whether there is a constitutional right to habeas corpus - that is, a fair hearing before a real court - for everyone detained by the U.S. government at Guantánamo.

Increases in surveillance powers were also on the list of wrong-turn stories this year, co-host Heidi Boghosian points out the legislation that extends the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. In the wake of Congress approving a dramatic expansion of U.S. warrant-less wiretapping powers, the Center for Constitutional Rights has argued that the NSA’s program is unconstitutional and should be struck down. The argument in CCR v. Bush comes after Congress and the Bush administration passed the Protect America Act of 2007 which broadly expands the government’s power to spy on Americans without getting court approval.

Hosts also examine the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act. Legislation that appears an effort to re-create the House Committee on Un-American Activities, which was a standing commission in the fifties and sixties to root out “un-American” ideas among political activists. This, with the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2007 is key to installing the police state apparatus and declaring martial law.

The New Supreme Court: The Trifecta 2007

• The 5-4 ruling that race cannot be a factor in the assignment of children to public schools. Free speech not an option for students regarding (Bong Hits For Jesus).
• Campaign Finance Reform - The Supreme Court has thrown out part of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law that placed restrictions on corporations and unions from buying television ads close to elections
• The citizens’ ability to challenge government violations of the separation of church and state, Hein v. Freedom from Religion Foundation 5-4, the Justices ruled that taxpayers do not have standing to challenge the White House program on federal aid to faith-based organizations.
• On a lighter note, Supreme Court justices overturned a U.S. appeals court ruling that judges cannot hand down a lighter punishment because they disagree with wide disparities for crack and powder cocaine sentences. Blacks account for about 80 percent of the federal crack cocaine convictions.

Michael Ratner’s Acceptance Speech

We end this year-end program with an acceptance speech delivered by co-host, attorney, author and Center for Constitutional Rights President Michael Ratner. Michael received the 2007 Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship.

“One of the country’s foremost defenders of human rights and civil liberties, Michael Ratner has led the fight to demand due process for Guantánamo detainees, adequate safeguards against intrusive government surveillance, and an end to torture and extraordinary rendition.”

 

 Law and Disorder Nov. 26, 2007 [57:48m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Law and Disorder Updates

• The Nation Institute and the Puffin Foundation Award Annual Prize to CCR President Michael Ratner.

• Joel Kovel - Overcoming Zionism Censorship Update - Previous article

• Death Penalty - United Nations Calls For Moratorium on Executions.

• Victor Rabinowitz memoriam

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Guantanamo Update

Hosts deliver updates on a number of recent news stories about Guantanamo Bay Prison in Cuba, such as the “Camp Delta Standard Operating Procedures Manual” that was leaked recently. Download the manual here. (PDF) According to this manual the Red Cross was not allowed access to certain detainees at Guantanamo. Also among topics discussed, an Amicus Brief that was filed recently and the Supreme Court’s review of the military’s process on how prisoners are released from Guantanamo.

Guest - Shane Kadidal, senior attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights. Check out Shane’s Blog

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Less Safe, Less Free: Why America Is Losing the War on Terror

Leading constitutional scholars David Cole and Jules Lobel have published a critique of the Bush administration’s post 9-11 policies. It’s called “Less Safe, Less Free: Why America is Losing the War on Terror.”

They point out how less than one-tenth of the detainees in Guantanamo Bay have been found to have links to Al Qaeda or the Taliban. Not one of the 80,000 Arab and Muslim men who underwent Special Registration has been convicted of terrorism-related crimes. Meanwhile, the department of homeland security continues to spend tens of millions installing surveillance camera systems in and throughout US cities.

One review of “Less Safe, Less Free: Why America is Losing the War on Terror.” writes - - “ At home and abroad, the administration has cut corners on fundamental commitments of the rule of law in the name of preventing future attacks—from “water-boarding” detainees, to disappearing suspects into secret CIA prisons, to attacking Iraq against the wishes of the UN Security Council and most of the world when it posed no imminent threat of attacking us.”

Guest - Jules Lobel, vice president of the Center for Constitutional Rights. He’s a law professor and constitutional lawyer teaching at the University of Pittsburgh. Jules Lobel is also expert on emergency powers and the laws governing war.

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A Question of Impeachment

A Question of Impeachment is the title for the Culture Project’s ongoing event series this month and into December. Authors, actors and luminaries gather to explore and debate the case for impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

Guests - Olivia Greer, Culture Project Producer and and Allan Buchman, Creative Director at the Culture Project.

Watch - A Question of Impeachment

 

 Law and Disorder November 19, 2007 [57:12m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

‘A Coup Has Occurred’ . . . Daniel Ellsberg

Law and Disorder hosts talk with Daniel Ellsberg about his recent speech. Ellsberg, former Defense Department analyst who leaked the secret Pentagon Papers in 1971, describes to listeners a dire scenario if the Bush administration attacks Iran.

Excerpt from his speech - “If there’s another 9/11 under this regime … it means that they switch on full extent all the apparatus of a police state that has been patiently constructed, largely secretly at first but eventually leaked out and known and accepted by the Democratic people in Congress, by the Republicans and so forth.

Guest - Daniel Ellsberg, served in the Pentagon in 1964 under Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. He then served for two years in Vietnam working for General Edward Lansdale as a civilian in the State Department, and became aware that the Vietnam War was unwinnable.

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The National Lawyers’ Guild Calls for Demonstrations in Solidarity with Lawyers in Pakistan

Co-hosts Heidi Boghosian and Michael Smith speak with lawyers and activists on the street. The National Lawyers Guild, NYC-NLG Chapter, Center for Constitutional Rights, SALT, Alliance for Justice, have called for demonstrations at Pakistani Consulates in New York City, Washington, D.C., Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles & Boston in solidarity with Lawyers in Pakistan.

Speakers include NLG NYC Chapter President Daniel L. Meyers; Michael Heflin, Amnesty International USA; Jeannie Mirer, Secretary General, International Association of Democratic Lawyers.

The National Lawyers Guild demands that President Musharraf immediately withdraw the emergency declaration of November 3, 2007, the Provisional Constitutional Order No. 1 of 2007 (PCO), which suspends Pakistan’s Constitution. This declaration includes suspension of the right to life and liberty, freedom of speech, assembly and association, and equal protection of the law, all of which are guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

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James P. Cannon and the Origins of the American Revolutionary Left, 1890-1928

James P. Cannon and the Origins of the American Revolutionary Left, 1890-1928 is meticulously and creatively researched. Palmer’s book situates American communism’s formative decade in the dynamics of a specific political and economic context, never losing sight of the mobilizations and militant strikes of the period. This study also locates this historical drama–to an unprecedented degree–alongside the personal life and particular experience of a native son of working-class radicalism. - University of Illinois Press

Guest - Bryan Palmer Canada Research Chair at Trent University and the editor of Labour/Le Travail. He is also the author of ten books, including Descent into Discourse and Cultures of Darkness.

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November 13, 2001: Coup d’etat in America by Michael Ratner

I am writing this on November 13^th. That day probably has little significance for most readers of this blog. But it is a day, as they say, that should live in infamy. On that date in 2001, two months after 9/11, President Bush issued Military Order Number 1. Read More . . . .

 

 Law and Disorder October 22, 2007 [58:51m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Co-hosts Michael Ratner and Heidi Boghosian begin with updates, the Armenian Genocide legislation, the recent passing of American Indian Movement’s lead spokesman Vernon Bellecourt. Bellecourt a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe (located in Minnesota) and the Center for Constitutional Rights lawsuit against Blackwater USA.

A legal team including the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) sued the “Shadow Army” Blackwater USA, the private military contractor whose heavily armed personnel allegedly opened fire on innocent Iraqi civilians in Nisoor Square in Baghdad on Sept. 16. The suit was filed on behalf of an injured survivor and three families of men killed in the incident, according to the legal team representing the civilians. The case was brought be the Center for Constitutional Rights and the firms of Burke O’Neil LLC and Akeel & Valentine, P.C.

Jeremy Scahill talks about how Erik Prince started Blackwater

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

During WBAI’s fall fund raiser for the Pacifica station 99.5 FM in New York City, 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.

Thank you for your pledges to WBAI!

Chopper photo By Woodkern on Flickr

 

 Standard Podcast [57:31m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Dear listeners, we hear a re-broadcast from Law and Disorder’s Police State Series.

Laying the Foundation of a Police State - Part III Surveillance and Criminalizing Dissent

Since the summer of 2004, Law and Disorder has brought Pacifica listeners the voices of activists, authors and attorneys from the front lines.

Last week, and in the next three weeks, we examine in a four part series, the foundation for what many view as a police state in the United States. In this series we will talk with guests about the post 9/11 blueprint of this dictatorship/ police state and how the nefarious turn to war, the use of torture and the domestic propagation of fear unfolded.

We have examined at length topics such as torture, domestic surveillance, criminalizing dissent, racial profiling, indefinite detentions and the destruction of constitutional rights as vital information to bring an understanding to listeners as to how it happened and where we go from here.

In this third part of the series we look at several key issues in the crackdown of dissent in this country including how the government has set up a terrorist database to categorize and target domestic activists. As attorneys on the front lines we bring exclusive cases of domestic surveillance of protestors. In previous shows, Law and Disorder has covered the lawsuits involving NSA wiretapping of phone calls and emails by the Center for Constitutional Rights, EFF and the ACLU. We talk with the ACLU’s Michigan Legal Director about their NSA lawsuit and recent victory

Here on Law and Disorder we’ve covered, directly and indirectly, the resurgence of domestic surveillance since the events of September 11. We’ve seen how the government has loosened restrictions on spying on political activists, both locally and nationally. We’ve seen how this administration has exploited the term “terrorism” to justify a host of insidious and often unlawful practices, from engaging in mass arrests of peaceful protesters in order to collect information about their political affiliations, to categorizing and labeling individuals based on their ideologies, to assembling all this information into a comprehensive terrorism watch list called the Terrorist Screening database.

Co-host Michael Ratner, President of the Center for Constitutional Rights recently returned from Berlin after filing a 380 page complaint in German against former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and other Bush Administration officials with war crimes. Read the CCR complaint - documents.

List of International Stories on Google News

NSA’s massive wiretapping program.

Hosts discuss recent Michigan ACLU lawsuit victory against NSA spying.

In the first federal challenge ever argued against the Bush administration’s NSA spying program, U.S. District Court Judge Anna Diggs Taylor rules that the program to monitor the phone calls and e-mails of millions of Americans without warrants is unconstitutional. Calling for a halt to this abuse of presidential power, Judge Taylor states that “there are no hereditary Kings in America and no powers not created by the Constitution,” so all the president’s “inherent powers” must derive from the Constitution.

Guest - Michael J. Steinberg has served as the legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan since 1997 where he has worked on numerous high-profile impact cases on a wide range of civil liberties and civil rights issues. He has served as co-counsel on several post-9/11 cases including: the successful Detroit lawsuit challenging the National Security Agency’s warrantless domestic wiretapping; the challenge to Section 215 of the Patriot Act; and the successful challenge to John Ashcroft’s order closing certain immigration proceedings to the press and the public.

Brandon Mayfield Case

In May of 2004, the FBI arrested Mayfield as a material witness in connection with the Madrid bombing attacks and held him for over two weeks before releasing him. Mayfield was never charged, and an FBI internal review later acknowledged serious errors in their investigation.

Guest - Steven Wax, Federal Public Defender for Oregon. FBI apologizes to Oregon Lawyer

Tracked in America - Konstanty Hordynski

UC Santa Cruz Students Against War have turned up on a Pentagon database of protest groups, while a conference of Arab-American scholars at Stanford University was targeted by an FBI Task Force. Konstanty Hordynski, a member of the UC Santa Cruz group that was deemed a “credible threat” by the Pentagon remarked, “When I learned our constitutionally protected advocacy was included on a Pentagon list of monitored events, I was taken aback. I was saddened that the Constitution could be so easily ignored.”

Criminalizing Dissent - Law and Disorder Exclusive

National Lawyers Guild Attorney and Students Investigate Extensive Protestor Database

Today we’d like to connect some of the dots by talking about a companion database, the FBI’s Violent Gang and Terrorist Organization File, or VGTOF. The VGTOF is the Watchlist’s main source of domestic terrorist information. Among other information, the VGTOF includes names of individuals with no criminal history who are being investigated as being politically active or connected with politically active organizations. In 2002 the FBI memo stated that it will include “Anarchists, Animal Rights Extremists, Environmental Extremists, and domestic extremists. Official never have to justify the decision to place someone on the list, a list that can be accessed by virtually every law enforcement official with whom the person comes into contact.

Guests - Attorney Gideon Oliver and law students Grainne O’Neill and Mark Taylor.

 

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Lawyers You’ll Like: James Lafferty Executive Dir. of the National Lawyers Guild in Los Angeles

James Lafferty is currently the Executive Director of the National Lawyers Guild in Los Angeles and host of The Lawyers Guild Show, a weekly public affairs program on Pacifica radio station KPFK, 90.7 FM.

He has served as a chief officer of, and spokesperson for, various national anti-war coalitions, including the National Peace Action Coalition, the anti-Vietnam War coalition that organized the largest protests during that war; the National Coalition for Peace in the Middle East; and, the National Campaign to End U.S. Intervention in the Philippines. In the ‘60s and ‘70s, his law firm, Lafferty, Reosti, Jabara, Papakian & Smith, represented virtually all of the left political movements in and around Detroit, Michigan, during which time he became one of this nation’s leading experts on Selective Service law and military law.

In the early ‘80’s, Mr. Lafferty founded and chaired the largest A.C.L.U. Chapter in the State of Michigan. In New York City, in the late 80’s and early ‘90s, he traveled the world organizing on behalf of the labor rights of merchant seafarers. During this time he also taught a course at the New School for Social Research, entitled, Vietnam: The War at Home and Abroad. More recently, he was the Coordinator of the L.A. Coalition to Stop the Execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal, as well as a member of the national steering committee of the Campaign to Stop the Execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal.

He currently serves on the Board of the L.A.-based Office of the Americas and on the steering committee of the anti-war coalition, International ANSWER/L.A. Mr. Lafferty has recently been elected as a Fellow of the L.A. Institute for the Humanities, at the University of Southern California.

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Government Aims to Block Accountability for Illegal Spying on Americans

In the wake of Congress approving a dramatic expansion of U.S. warrant-less wiretapping powers, the Center for Constitutional Rights has argued that the NSA’s program is unconstitutional and should be struck down. The argument in CCR v. Bush comes after Congress and the Bush administration passed the Protect America Act of 2007 which broadly expands the government’s power to spy on Americans without getting court approval.

The law effectively removes oversight for spying from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Court or FISA court and leaves it up to the Executive Branch to monitor itself, with Attorney General Gonzales having the primary responsibility for oversight. The arguments are being heard at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco

Guest - Shayana Kadidal attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights.

Check out Shane’s Blog - “Something remarkable and disturbing is happening in this case and in others across the country” challenging the NSA’s warrantless spying on Americans, wrote the lawyers in the case in Oregon challenging NSA surveillance of domestic attorney-client phone calls. “The executive branch of our federal government, disregarding the admonition that ‘[d]emocracies die behind closed doors,’ is attempting to draw a veil of secrecy over judicial proceedings to determine whether the warrantless eavesdropping program, itself kept secret for years, is unlawful.”

 

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Troy Anthony Davis Update: 90 Days Stay of Execution

The Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles granted a 90-day stay of execution to Troy Davis. On July 16, less than 24 hours before Troy Davis was scheduled to be executed in Georgia, the state Board of Pardons and Paroles issued a stay of execution, to be not longer than 90 days, “for the purpose of evaluating and analyzing” the information submitted to it during the clemency hearing earlier in the day. Act today to ensure that the the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles grants Troy clemency!

Fax your message to: State Board of Pardons & Paroles - 404-651-8502.

Troy Davis was sentenced to death in Georgia, for the murder of a police officer. The case against him consisted entirely of witness testimonies that were full of inconsistencies, even at the time of trial. Since then, all but two of the states’ nine non-police witnesses from the trial have recanted their testimony. Many state in sworn affidavits that they were pressured or coerced by police into testifying or signing statements against Troy Davis. Listen to Law and Disorder interview with Troy’s sister Martina Correia.

Vatican Urges Georgia To Spare Inmate

Where is the justice for me? The case of Troy Davis facing execution in Georgia

Dalia Hashad, co-host and Director of Amnesty International’s USA program gives us this update.

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National Lawyers Guild Report: Punishing Protests - Government Tactics That Suppress Free Speech

Co-Host Heidi Boghosian and National Lawyers Guild members publish a powerful report chronicling government tactics employed on city, state and federal levels aimed at suppressing public dissent. The report outlines the hierarchy of government attacks on free speech, from sophisticated data collecting agencies to arresting demonstrators without probable cause. Order yours here $3

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Marjorie Cohn - Cowboy Republic, Six Ways the Bush Gang Has Defied the Law.

National Lawyers Guild President, legal scholar and co-author of Cameras in the Courtroom: Television and the Pursuit of Justice, Marjorie Cohn has written a new book titled, Cowboy Republic, Six Ways the Bush Gang Has Defied the Law. She provides an in-depth analysis of six significant ways in which the Bush administration has undermined the rule of law in this country. Professor Cohn details the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq; the policy of torture; war crimes; the kangaroo courts of Guantanamo; unconstitutional laws; and the unlawful surveillance of American citizens. Her book contains practical ways to strengthen the rule of law domestically and internationally, including both political and legal remedies.

Guest - Marjorie Cohn - President of the National Lawyers Guild.

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Visit Co-Host Michael Ratner’s Blog - JustLeft.org

Help Stop the Execution of Troy Anthony Davis

Troy Davis was sentenced to death in Georgia, for the murder of a police officer. The case against him consisted entirely of witness testimonies that were full of inconsistencies, even at the time of trial. Since then, all but two of the states’ nine non-police witnesses from the trial have recanted their testimony. Many state in sworn affidavits that they were pressured or coerced by police into testifying or signing statements against Troy Davis. There is no physical evidence linking Troy Davis to the crime and no murder weapon has ever been found. With his appeals exhausted and courts refusing to consider the recanted testimony, Troy Davis is scheduled to be executed later this month. The only thing that stands between him and execution is the Georgia Parole Board.

UPDATE: The Georgia Parole Board has scheduled Troy Davis to be executed on July 17th at 7pm. The first available day of a schedule window set from July 17-24.

Take Action Through Amnesty International

Larry Cox, Executive Director of Amnesty International said “The Supreme Court decision is proof-positive that justice truly is blind — blind to coerced and recanted testimony, blind to the lack of a murder weapon or physical evidence and blind to the extremely dubious circumstances that led to this man’s conviction. At times there are cases that are emblematic of the dysfunctional application of justice in this country. By refusing to review serious claims of innocence, the Supreme Court has revealed catastrophic flaws in the U.S. death penalty machine.”

Where is the justice for me? The case of Troy Davis facing execution in Georgia

Guest - Martina Correia, activist and sister of Troy Anthony Davis.

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Drug Policy Reform

Nearly 2.1 million Americans are currently serving time in prison. One out of every six of these inmates is in federal prison on marijuana.-related charges. Astonishingly, according to the laws in 15 U.S. states, one can receive a life sentence for non-violent marijuana infractions.

Compare that to the national average sentence of 6 years for homicide. One out of every six of these inmates is in federal prison on marijuana-related charges.In large cities such as New York law enforcement officers have markedly stepped up their efforts to target low-level drug offenders, mostly for marijuana. Watch dog organizations claim that this is also a means to build a database on inner city youth, data shared and networked globally by several multi-national security agencies. In response to these sentencing disparities and the growing prison population, a drug policy reform movement is gaining momentum says Ethan Nadelman.

Guest - Ethan Nadelman, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance

 

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