Terrorism

Federal Judge Orders Release of Young Gitmo Detainee

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has ordered the release of a Guantanamo detainee who may have been as young as 12 at the time of his arrest. U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle said the government should release detainee Mohammed Jawad within three weeks, enough time to filed required reports…

Jul 30, 2009 6:26 PM CDT

N.C. Man Accused of Terrorist Support Had Suburban Upbringing

One of the seven men charged yesterday with conspiring to support terrorists overseas is a U.S. citizen with an all-American background. Daniel Patrick Boyd, 39, is a former high-school football player and the son of a Marine, the Washington Post reports. A Muslim convert, Boyd is accused along with his…

Jul 29, 2009 4:10 PM CDT

John Yoo Doesn’t Take Criticism Quietly

Former Justice Department official John Yoo is facing criticism and a lawsuit over legal memos approving harsh interrogation techniques of terrorism suspects, but that hasn’t caused him to retreat from the public eye. Yoo, a tenured law professor at the University of California at Berkeley, is teaching courses as a…

Jul 27, 2009 3:17 PM CDT

Conyers Calls For AG to Open Probe of Claimed Bush Admin Abuses

The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee today called for U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint a special counsel to probe potential abuses of power under the Bush administration. In a speech to the National Press Club, Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) said Holder “must appoint a special counsel to…

Jul 24, 2009 8:58 PM CDT

John Yoo Gets Punked by Comedian in Torture Pose

A comedian who interrupted the class of former Justice Department lawyer John Yoo, now a visiting law professor at Chapman University law school, didn’t exactly appear to be a class clown. Instead the comedian from the Australian TV show The Chaser’s War on Everything showed up in Yoo’s class dressed…

Jul 24, 2009 5:33 PM CDT

Lower Courts Have Cited Little-Noticed 9-11 Decision 500 Times

The U.S. Supreme Court’s May decision against a cable TV installer suing over his Sept. 11 detention may have gotten little notice from the public, but it has gotten the attention of the lower courts. Judges have cited the decision on federal pleading standards in civil lawsuits 500 times in…

Jul 21, 2009 1:56 PM CDT

Accused Mumbai Gunman Confesses at Trial, Shocking Own Lawyer

Ajmal Amir Kasab, now in his early 20s, was the sole surviving suspect among 10 gunmen accused of killing some 170 people in India’s financial capital during a three-day siege in November. Although he initially asserted his innocence in a trial that began in April, he stunned a Mumbai courtroom…

Jul 20, 2009 10:38 PM CDT

DOJ Will Pay Yoo’s Legal Tab, But Its Lawyers Won’t Handle the Case

Former Justice Department lawyer John Yoo plans to appeal a ruling in a suit claiming his legal memos led to torture, but he won’t be represented by government lawyers. The Justice Department will drop its defense of Yoo, now a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley, according…

Jul 14, 2009 3:22 PM CDT

Ex-Colleagues Say AG Holder Is Aging Before Their Eyes

Former colleagues of Attorney General Eric Holder say he is “working like a dog” and aging before their eyes. Holder is fielding criticism from Republicans who see him as soft on terrorism and from some Democrats disappointed to learn he is mulling the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate…

Jul 14, 2009 12:54 PM CDT

Legal Strategy Backed a Secret CIA Program to Kill Al-Qaida Leaders

The Bush administration has maintained that a secret CIA program to kill leaders of al-Qaida was legal, despite an executive order banning assassinations. Details of the secret program were never revealed to congressional intelligence committees, raising a second legal question about whether the withheld information violated a national security law…

Jul 14, 2009 11:28 AM CDT

What Alberto Gonzales Would Like to Ask Judge Sotomayor

Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has a few questions he would like to ask U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. And one of them concerns the war on terrorism. Gonzales, whose Justice Department gave legal approval for harsh interrogation techniques of terrorism suspects, writes in the New York Times that…

Jul 13, 2009 1:25 PM CDT

AG Holder May Appoint Prosecutor for CIA Torture Inquiry

Attorney General Eric Holder may appoint a criminal prosecutor to investigate whether terrorism suspects were tortured during CIA interrogations. Three sources told the Washington Post that Holder has reviewed a secret CIA inspection report that details several instances that could be likened to torture. He could decide whether to proceed…

Jul 13, 2009 12:45 PM CDT

How N.Y. Times Pretty Much Kept Reporter’s Kidnapping Off Wikipedia

For seven months, the New York Times managed to keep news that one of the paper’s reporters had been kidnapped by the Taliban out of the headlines. But by far more difficult was keeping the information out of Wikipedia, the newspaper reports in a lengthy article that provides a fascinating…

Jun 29, 2009 9:43 PM CDT

Meet John Rizzo, Acting CIA General Counsel

When John Rizzo retires as acting general counsel of the CIA this summer, he will leave amid controversy over his role in approving harsh interrogations for terrorism suspects. Rizzo will be remembered as the most influential career lawyer in the department’s history, the Los Angeles Times reports in a profile.…

Jun 29, 2009 6:24 PM CDT

Alleged Web Threats to Murder 3 Judges Spark 1st Amendment Debate

Yesterday’s arrest of a so-called hate blogger for allegedly posting material on the Internet that threatened the lives of three federal judges in Chicago is sparking debate about permissible political speech. Harold Charles “Hal” Turner allegedly put up an Internet blog post saying that three 7th U.S. Circuit Court of…

Jun 25, 2009 7:34 PM CDT