Terrorism

DOJ Contests Detainee Disclosures

The Justice Department is seeking en banc review of an appeals court ruling requiring disclosure of classified information about Guantanamo detainees. The government contends that disclosure could damage national security, the New York Times reports. Its filing says the vast time needed to gather the information would disrupt terrorism investigations,…

Sep 12, 2007 3:44 PM CDT

Paris Hilton Hot Over Hallmark Card

“That’s hot,” is Paris Hilton’s trademark phrase, both figuratively and literally. Those are the allegations in a lawsuit Hilton has filed over a Hallmark moment that was not a happy one for the heiress. Hilton has sued the card company for superimposing a photo of her face on a cartoon…

Sep 11, 2007 2:28 PM CDT

Did New Law Help Terorrism Probe?

Intelligence chief Mike McConnell might have misspoken when he credited a new law with helping lead to the arrests of three suspects for planning bomb attacks in Germany. McConnell told senators yesterday that the government recovered important information as a result of the new law regarding wiretaps of overseas communications,…

Sep 11, 2007 1:37 PM CDT

Wiretap Court Flexes Judicial Muscle

The court that considers foreign intelligence wiretap applications is showing hints of an independent streak. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has operated in secret, even as federal officials disclosed that the court had limited the government’s ability to conduct warrantless wiretaps of overseas communications that are routed through the United…

Sep 10, 2007 5:51 PM CDT

Lawyer Who Withdrew ‘Torture Memos’ Speaks Out

A lawyer who headed the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel says in a new book that he resigned from the job in 2004 in hopes that his withdrawal of two controversial memos on interrogation of terrorism suspects would stick. Jack Goldsmith, now a Harvard law professor, considered the so-called…

Sep 10, 2007 11:16 AM CDT

1940s Justice Influences Terrorism Cases

A justice of the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1940s has had a major influence in several recent opinions, thanks to one of his former clerks—U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. Stevens has relied on World War II-era opinions written by Justice Wiley B. Rutledge, who served on the…

Sep 8, 2007 1:53 PM CDT

Terrorism Trial Scorecard

A little over a year ago, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a 68-page report that listed what the DOJ considers the country’s major terrorism cases. In an article that is part of a special terrorism issue, the ABA Journal now uses the report as a basis for a scorecard…

Sep 7, 2007 10:40 AM CDT

No Courtroom Jihad in Moussaoui Trial

The judge and the lawyers wanted a fair trial. Terrorism defendant Zacarias Moussaoui wanted something different: a courtroom jihad against the United States. “He fought with the judge. He fought with his lawyers. Eventually, he fought with the prosecutors in a riveting cross-examination. But all of those battles were in…

Sep 7, 2007 9:59 AM CDT

Judge: Patriot Act Threatens Constitutional System

Warning of “potential dire effects to individual freedoms,” a federal judge in New York has struck down revisions to the USA Patriot Act for violating the First Amendment and restricting the power of the courts to rule on the constitutional issue. The decision was a victory for the American Civil…

Sep 6, 2007 6:26 PM CDT

German Police Seek Conspirators

German police are searching for 10 more suspects believed to have helped three men arrested yesterday for plotting to bomb U.S. targets in Germany. The 10 people are linked to the Islamic Jihad Union, a Sunni Muslim group influenced by al-Quaida, the Associated Press reports. A State Department official told…

Sep 6, 2007 1:04 PM CDT

Law Prof Battled Bush at the White House

What many contend was an excessive use of executive power by President George W. Bush is suddenly the topic of the month. An insider who happens to be a law professor has written something of a tell-all book on the subject, and major publications are vying to offer the most…

Sep 6, 2007 12:29 AM CDT

Firm Survives 9/11 Attack, But Changes

It takes a lot today to create a crisis at Harris Beach. Its law offices at 2 World Trade Center were obliterated on Sept. 11, 2001, killing three lawyers, two staff members and a contractor supervising an almost-completed $4 million renovation project. Now, many among the more than 100 who…

Sep 5, 2007 6:16 PM CDT

Arrests Foil Attacks on U.S. Targets, Germany Says

Three suspected terrorists have been arrested and accused of plotting bomb attacks on U.S. targets in Germany. German Federal Prosecutor Monika Harms said the men were targeting bars and other establishments frequented by Americans, the Associated Press reports. German media reported the targets included the Frankfurt International Airport and U.S.…

Sep 5, 2007 2:04 PM CDT

Trial of Millennium: Osama Bin Laden

It’s not a real trial, of course. But some of the country’s best-known lawyers are talking about how they would defend the nation’s most-wanted terrorism suspect, if they were lucky—or unlucky—enough to draw the job of representing Osama bin Laden, were he to be captured. The case would probably start…

Sep 5, 2007 10:09 AM CDT

Defense Lawyers Give Terror Effort a D+

In an article that has sparked lively debate on the Internet, the ABA Journal discusses the results of a poll of 50 defense lawyers about the legal system’s response to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Their answers weren’t confidence-inspiring. Although the defense lawyers felt that the judicial branch has…

Sep 4, 2007 10:47 PM CDT