The Washington Independent

Posts Tagged jack goldsmith

Kate Martin: Well, Preventive Detention for Whom?

By | 07.01.09 | 4:06 pm

Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies, read my piece today and emailed over a couple of thoughts about the current debate over preventive detention. (Martin attended the June 9 meeting of the administration’s detention policy task force that I reported on.) She makes the solid More…

Human Rights Watch vs. Preventive Detention

By | 06.29.09 | 3:14 pm

Add Human Rights Watch’s Joanne Mariner to the list of civil libertarians who dissent from the Obama administration’s emerging proposals for preventive detention. This is from a newly released statement from the organization:

“Pursuing a policy of indefinite detention without charge would send the Obama administration down the

More…

Conservatives Attack Koh

By | 04.01.09 | 1:52 pm

It should come as no surprise that President Obama’s nomination of the widely respected human rights expert and dean of the Yale Law School, Harold Hongju Koh, to be the State Department’s legal adviser has gotten conservatives to call out their attack dogs, as FOX News reports.

Koh, More…

Why Is the Obama Administration Defending John Yoo?

By | 03.10.09 | 11:05 am

The question has come up a lot lately, particularly since oral arguments last week in Jose Padilla’s lawsuit against John Yoo made clear that the federal judge was taking the case very seriously. After all, it was a bit odd to see Barack Obama’s Justice Department defending Yoo — More…

Forgive and Forget?

By | 01.11.09 | 7:15 pm

As part of its “Transitions” series, The New York Times devoted a full page Sunday to op-eds expressing varying viewpoints on what President-elect Barack Obama should do about “the legal legacy of the war on terrorism.”

It’s an odd way of framing the issue — and an inherent concession to More…

Consideration of National Security Courts Lands Obama in a Legal Minefield

By | 11.12.08 | 6:08 am

Monday’s news that President-elect Barack Obama and his advisers are planning to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay and prosecute some of the prisoners detained there in special national-security courts has prompted a retreat by the Obama team and swift responses by advocates on all sides.

On Tuesday, senior Obama More…