July 2, 2006
Addington: The Legal Mind Behind the Imperial Presidency
A MUST-READ New Yorker article.
Most Americans . . . have probably
never heard of Addington. But current and former Administration
officials say that he has played a central role in shaping the
Administration’s legal strategy for the war on terror. Known as the New
Paradigm, this strategy rests on a reading of the Constitution that few
legal scholars share—namely, that the President, as Commander-in-Chief,
has the authority to disregard virtually all previously known legal
boundaries, if national security demands it. Under this framework,
statutes prohibiting torture, secret detention, and warrantless
surveillance have been set aside. A former high-ranking Administration
lawyer who worked extensively on national-security issues said that the
Administration’s legal positions were, to a remarkable degree, “all
Addington.” Another lawyer, Richard L. Shiffrin, who until 2003 was the
Pentagon’s deputy general counsel for intelligence, said that Addington
was “an unopposable force.”[ . . . . ]
Many constitutional experts, however, question his interpretation of
the document, especially his views on Presidential power. Scott Horton,
a professor at Columbia Law School, and the head of the New York Bar
Association’s International Law committee, said that Addington and a
small group of Administration lawyers who share his views had attempted
to “overturn two centuries of jurisprudence defining the limits of the
executive branch. They’ve made war a matter of dictatorial power.” The
historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., who defined Nixon as the extreme
example of Presidential overreaching in his book “The Imperial
Presidency” (1973), said he believes that Bush “is more grandiose than
Nixon.” As for the Administration’s legal defense of torture, which
Addington played a central role in formulating, Schlesinger said, “No
position taken has done more damage to the American reputation in the
world—ever.”Bruce Fein, a Republican legal activist,
who voted for Bush in both Presidential elections, and who served as
associate deputy attorney general in the Reagan Justice Department,
said that Addington and other Presidential legal advisers had “staked
out powers that are a universe beyond any other Administration. This
President has made claims that are really quite alarming. He’s said
that there are no restraints on his ability, as he sees it, to collect
intelligence, to open mail, to commit torture, and to use electronic
surveillance. If you used the President’s reasoning, you could shut
down Congress for leaking too much. His war powers allow him to declare
anyone an illegal combatant. All the world’s a battlefield—according to
this view, he could kill someone in Lafayette Park if he wants! It’s
got the sense of Louis XIV: ‘I am the
State.’ ” Richard A. Epstein, a prominent libertarian law professor at
the University of Chicago, said, “The President doesn’t have the power
of a king, or even that of state governors. He’s subject to the laws of
Congress! The Administration’s lawyers are nuts on this issue.” He
warned of an impending “constitutional crisis,” because “their talk of
the inherent power of the Presidency seems to be saying that the courts
can’t stop them, and neither can Congress.”The former
high-ranking lawyer for the Administration, who worked closely with
Addington, and who shares his political conservatism, said that, in the
aftermath of September 11th, “Addington was more like Cheney’s agent
than like a lawyer. A lawyer sometimes says no.” He noted, “Addington
never said, ‘There is a line you can’t cross.’ ” Although the lawyer
supported the President, he felt that his Administration had been led
astray. “George W. Bush has been damaged by incredibly bad legal
advice,” he said.[ . . . . ]
David Addington is a satisfactory lawyer, Fein said, but a less than
satisfactory student of American history, which, for a public servant
of his influence, matters more. “If you read the Federalist Papers, you
can see how rich in history they are,” he said. “The Founders really
understood the history of what people did
with power, going back to Greek and Roman and Biblical times. Our
political heritage is to be skeptical of executive power, because, in
particular, there was skepticism of King George III. But Cheney and
Addington are not students of history. If they were, they’d know that
the Founding Fathers would be shocked by what they’ve done.”
Other highlights include references to Cheney and Addington’s longstanding plans to reduce Congress to a “cipher,” based in part on their distaste for the aftermath of the Vietnam War, and their dislike of Congressional oversight.
-MAD-
June 12, 2006
Now I’ve Heard [Just About] Everything . . . . > : (
The suicides of three detainees at the US base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, amount to acts of war, the US military says.
The camp commander said the two Saudis and a Yemeni were
“committed” and had killed themselves in “an act of asymmetric warfare
waged against us”.[ . . . . ]
Rear Adm Harris said he did not believe the men had killed themselves out of despair.
“They are smart. They are creative, they are committed,” he said.
“They have no regard for life, either ours or their own.
I believe this was not an act of desperation, but an act of
asymmetrical warfare waged against us.”
And the “other side”
Ken Roth, head of Human Rights Watch in New York, told the BBC the men had probably been driven by despair.
“These people are despairing because they are being held lawlessly,” he said.
“There’s no end in sight. They’re not being brought
before any independent judges. They’re not being charged and convicted
for any crime.”
Don’t you just hate it when people kill themselves as an act of asymmetric warfare against your nation?
I shudder to think what would have happened if the Nazis had thought of this tactic.
Oh wait! My great-grand-parents might still be alive. Never mind.
Link.
May 25, 2006
Message from Chicago-Kent NLG Executive Board to Graduates
Dear NLG Graduates,
We
donated $500 on behalf of graduating Kent NLG’ers (money we raised
earlier this year) to Common Ground Collective in New Orleans, who are
fighting the good fight and need the cash: they are currently out of
space to put up volunteers! Best of luck in all you do graduates, and
congrat[ulation]s! <—– (Sorry I couldn’t resist!)
Link.
-MAD-
April 25, 2006
18 Families Who Should Be an Inspiration to Us All!
Just look at what you accomplish with a little elbow grease!
Link.
-MAD-
April 20, 2006
“It would burn me like a Eucharist on a vampire.”
Near the conclusion of his guest interview, Executive Director of the ACLU, Anthony D. Romero offers Stephen Colbert an ACLU membership card, only for Colbert to shie away while exclaiming that “[i]t would burn me like a Eucharist on a vampire.”
Hilarious.
Link.
-MAD-
April 19, 2006
Benjamin Rush: A Founder You Don’t Hear About
Here is a link to an interesting article about Benjamin Rush, a member of the Continental Congress and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. It’s about his plan for a “Peace-Office for the United States.”
Known as the
Father of American Psychiatry, Rush . . . was a noted physician and Professor
of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania . . . . Near the end of his life, he served as Treasurer
of the National Mint.Rush was also
a prolific author. In 1798 he collected twenty-five of his previous
writings and published them in a volume he titled Essays,
Literary, Moral, and Philosophical (Philadelphia: Printed
by Thomas & Samuel F. Bradford, 1798). One of the essays had
been previously published in Banneker’s Almanac. This was
the work of Benjamin
Banneker (1731–1806), a noted black scientist, astronomer,
and surveyor who published an almanac from 1792–1797. Rush’s
radical essay was called “A Plan of a Peace-Office for the
United States.”
-MAD-
April 18, 2006
Event: Illegal Domestic Spying – The Case Against President Bush
With: Michael Avery – President of the National Lawyers Guild
When: Friday, April 28, 2006 at 6 p.m.
Where: The “Former CNA Building”
55 East Jackson Blvd.
Room 2201
Michael Avery, current President of the National Lawyers Guild, is a cooperating counsel with the Center for Constitutional Rights in CCR v. Bush et al., the lawsuit to stop the illegal NSA eavesdropping.
He also teaches law at Suffolk University in Boston.
-MAD-
April 14, 2006
Salah Open Hearings Next Week-Pack the Courtroom
Yes to Due Process, No to Torture Attend Public Hearings on Mohammad Salah Case Thursday, April 20 8:00 AM Friday, April 21, 2006 8:00 AM (best to arrive by 7:30 AM) There will also be a 12:30 PRESS CONFERENCE in Federal Plaza on Thursday, April 20th. We are gathering to let the public know that Chicagoans care about and demand due process and fairness. Torture and secrecy have no place in our justice system. Witnesses: Avigdor Feldman, Israeli Attorney Eyad Sarraj, Palestinian Psychiatrist (and possibly victims of torture) Where: Dirksen Federal Building, Room 1248 219 S. Dearborn (corner of Dearborn and Jackson). The Coalition to Protect People's Rights 28 E. Jackson Boulevard, Suite 1009 Chicago, IL 60604 For more information, contact cppr@yahoo.com or s_adely@yahoo.com _____________________________
-KLR
March 26, 2006
Founding Member of Delta Force Speaks Out on Torture
Eric Haney, founding member of a military counter-terrorist unit, Delta Force:
“I ask, who would you want to pay to
be a torturer? Do you want someone that the American public pays to
torture? He’s an employee of yours. It’s worse than ridiculous. It’s
criminal; it’s utterly criminal. This administration has been masters
of diverting attention away from real issues and debating the silly.
Debating what constitutes torture: Mistreatment of helpless people in
your power is torture, period. And (I’m saying this as) a man who has
been involved in the most pointed of our activities. I know it, and all
of my mates know it. You don’t do it. It’s an act of cowardice. I hear
apologists for torture say, “Well, they do it to us.” Which is a
ludicrous argument. … The Saddam Husseins of the world are not our
teachers. Christ almighty, we wrote a Constitution saying what’s legal
and what we believed in. Now we’re going to throw it away.”Link.
-MAD-
March 23, 2006
More Bush Family Perfidy
A wonderful investment opportunity for some . . . .
Link.
-MAD-
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