The Washington Independent

Posts Tagged ccr

Court OKs Pretextual Use of Immigration Detention

By | 12.22.09 | 3:14 pm

In a ruling that slid in quietly under the news radar, a federal court of appeals ruled late last Friday that the government can lawfully use immigration detention as an excuse to conduct criminal investigations into non-citizens if the government likely has the right to deport that person. More…

Lawyers Slam DOJ for Arguing U.S. Officials Aren’t Liable for Torture Abroad

By | 11.24.09 | 5:20 pm

I’ve been following the small but growing number of lawsuits brought on behalf of torture victims against U.S. government officials for more than a year now, but the opening statement in a brief filed with the Supreme Court on Monday on behalf of four British former More…

Did the NSA Wiretap Gitmo Defense Lawyers?

By | 10.09.09 | 12:49 pm

That’s one of the questions coming up in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit being argued today by the Center for Constitutional Rights on behalf of 23 lawyers who believe they may have been wiretapped without a warrant by the National Security Agency during the Bush administration. But More…

Former FBI and DOD Interrogators Support Holder’s CIA Probe, and Want More

By | 08.24.09 | 3:57 pm

Although there is already criticism of Attorney General Erc Holder’s planned investigation of CIA interrogators, it’s worth noting that former senior FBI and Defense Department interrogators support the criminal probe — and also want a more thorough investigation.

As I noted earlier, the Center for Constitutional Rights and More…

Why the Secrecy About Gitmo?

By | 02.24.09 | 11:15 am

The Pentagon’s report yesterday that the conditions at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp meet all the requirements of the Geneva Conventions, was, not surprisingly, met with a mixture of skepticism and downright hostility.

Adm. Patrick Walsh reported that based on more than 100 interviews over 13 days, inspections of More…

A Quick Primer on the State Secrets Privilege

By | 02.09.09 | 8:16 pm

As I reported earlier, President Obama’s Justice Department today stood up in court and asserted the so-called “state secrets” privilege to argue, like the Bush administration before it, that the case of five victims of the CIA’s “extraordinary rendition” and torture program must be dismissed.

But what is the More…

Second Circuit to Re-Hear Extraordinary Rendition Case Today

By | 12.09.08 | 12:02 pm

The case of Maher Arar, the Canadian citizen arrested in New York and sent to Syria to be interrogated under torture, will be re-heard today by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, sitting en banc.

As I reported earlier, the 34-year-old computer consultant of Syrian descent More…