U.S. Supreme Court

The news that Mohammed Jawad plans to sue the U.S. government for his unlawful detention and torture raises the question of whether he can get beyond the hurdles so many other torture victims have faced in similar lawsuits.
Previous cases have been dismissed on grounds that government officials had “qualified immunity” for their actions — meaning [...]

Daphne Eviatar is guest-blogging for Glenn Greenwald today. The following is cross-posted at Salon.
If, as the latest reports indicate, Attorney General Eric Holder is serious about prosecuting the worst torture and abuse of “war on terror” prisoners that occurred during the Bush administration, then there’s some key evidence he’s going to want to take a [...]

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled today (pdf) that four British men who say they were tortured while imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay have no right to seek damages from U.S. government officials.
Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and the ten other senior military officials named in the lawsuit have immunity, the [...]

Yesterday, I wrote about the 17 Chinese Uighurs’ petition to the Supreme Court challenging the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruling that the federal courts have no authority to release the prisoners, even if they’ve been wrongfully imprisoned for years.
Well, yesterday the same D.C. Circuit Court issued another decision [...]

A petition to the Supreme Court filed Monday is being called the first major challenge to the Obama administration’s detention policies.

The nomination of Elena Kagan, President Obama’s nominee for solicitor general — the government’s top legal representative in cases before the Supreme Court — is now being debated on the Senate floor. The Senate is expected to vote on the nomination by the end of today.
Despite some tough questioning about past experience and legal positions [...]

Republicans insist voter fraud is rampant. To combat it, they are challenging laws in states that make it easier to vote. But some legal scholars and voting experts worry that this broad-based attack could lead to serious and continuing challenges to the legitimacy of the next president.