After more than a year idling in the House, a proposal to give the residents of the nation’s capital a voting representative in Congress finally seemed clear for passage this week when Democratic leaders announced they were ready to accept some version of the accompanying amendment that would scrap More…
The Supreme Court today issued a blow to victims of abuse by U.S. officials during the “war on terror.” The high court this morning refused to review a federal appeals court ruling that dismissed a lawsuit by four British citizens who claimed they were wrongly arrested More…
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals just dismissed a landmark lawsuit filed by a Canadian victim of “extraordinary rendition” against former U.S. officials, ruling that torture victims have no right to compensation from the U.S. government, even if U.S. officials were complicit in their treatment.
Maher Arar is a More…
On Tuesday I reported that an Arizona judge had ordered Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to stop pre-charging female prisoners for the transportation and security costs associated with their obtaining abortion services at a medical clinic. The American Civil Liberties Union had won its argument that More…
President Obama’s new strategy for Afghanistan, which Spencer has been reporting on in detail, is being greeted with cautious optimism from lawyers representing prisoners held at the U.S.-run prison at Bagram air base, Afghanistan. But those lawyers — who are representing prisoners picked up around the world and More…
President Obama’s Justice Department today, in a two-sentence filing, backed the Bush administration’s position on the 600 or more detainees being held at the U.S. military’s detention facility at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. The department reaffirmed that the prisoners are not entitled to any constitutional rights and, most importantly, More…
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