Accused of throwing a grenade that killed Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer and participating in a terrorist conspiracy beginning when he was only 10 years old, Khadr literally has grown up at Guantánamo. Now 23, the full beard Khadr has grown since his imprisonment in 2002 obscures the fact that he was only 15 at the time he was shot and captured by U.S. forces.

Khadr has now spent a third of his life at Guantánamo, and after five years in the discredited military commissions, his trial began today. Khadr faces charges of murder, attempted murder, conspiracy, providing material support to terrorism, and spying. He faces a maximum life sentence if convicted.

Khadr’s is the first trial in the illegitimate military commissions under President Obama. The trial of an alleged child soldier who was abused in U.S. detention is a terrible case for the administration to open with, and yet here we are, in the middle of jury selection.

Guantánamo’s youngest prisoner, Khadr is the only one of the 176 remaining detainees who was a juvenile when transferred here. A Canadian, he’s also the only Westerner remaining at Gitmo. Khadr’s case is also unique because it will be the first prosecution in history for murder in violation of the laws of war (murder isn’t a recognized war crime; like the charges of spying and material suppport for terrorism that Khadr also faces, the charge was fashioned out of whole cloth for the purposes of the military commissions).

Omar Khadr’s trial flies in the face of international law and policy that recognizes child soldiers as victims and candidates for rehabilitation. The U.N. Special Representative on Children in Armed Conflict said in a statement today that Khadr’s trial sets a dangerous precedent that could endanger child soldiers around the world. She also said “juvenile justice standards are clear—children should not be tried before military tribunals.”

Since World War II, there hasn’t been a war crimes prosecution of a child soldier—until today. And that’s not because children don’t commit war crimes. Children committed some of the most heinous abuses of the Sierra Leonean civil war in the 90′s, including murder, rape, and amputation of limbs. But the U.N. war court convened to prosecute those responsible for wartime atrocities chose not to prosecute anyone under 18 at the time of their crimes, and instead entered these child soldiers in rehabilitatation programs and used them as witnesses in the war crimes trials against the adults who recruited or used them during the war.

The former chief prosecutor of the Sierra Leonean war court, former Defense Department official David Crane, has said that Khadr’s trial is “morally and legally wrong.” Author Ishmael Beah, a former child soldier from Sierra Leone who, like Khadr, was captured when he was 15, has also criticized Khadr’s prosecution. Beah admits that during the civil war he killed “too many people to count,” but since a stint in a rehabilitation center he has written a best-selling memoir, graduated from Oberlin, and served as a UNICEF ambassador. Beah has said he struggles to understand the dramatic difference between the compassion shown him and the lack of compassion shown Khadr.

(Originally posted on Daily Kos.)

Related posts:

1. What We Stand For Yesterday was a stark reminder that instead of closing the...
2. Standing before history Royal Dutch Shell brought to New York court over rampant...
3. A Win Against Warrantless GPS Tracking On Friday, a unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of...

If we think about all the details of our lives that would be exposed by tracking all of our movements for the past month, it might seem obvious that the Fourth Amendment should protect our privacy in that information. The government had argued, however, that under a Supreme Court decision from over a quarter of a century ago in which the police used a primitive beeper to help them follow a car during a single trip between two locations, individuals never have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their movements on public streets.

In a friend-of-the-court brief, the ACLU of the National Capital Area and the Electronic Frontier Foundation argued that times and context have changed since then. The court agreed. The GPS technology that is now available permits the police to easily and inexpensively track people’s movements 24 hours a day for indefinite periods of time, allowing them to watch over the totality of people’s lives as they move from place, to place, to place. And by tracking many people and plotting their movements on a map — as is now technologically possible — the government could easily learn whose lives intersect with whose, and when and where. The resulting invasion of privacy is far greater than that from the visual surveillance practices of the past. It’s truly a specter of Big Brother.

Friday’s decision is important because it strikes the right balance between technological progress and privacy by requiring the police to obtain a warrant to use GPS devices — and its reasoning should apply also, for example, to cellular technology that the police can use to track people’s whereabouts using their cell phones. The decision also recognizes that the whole package of data about us implicates greater privacy interests than the sum of its parts. This is a significant victory for privacy in the digital age, where more and more pieces of information about us are available in the public sphere.

Related posts:

1. What We Stand For Yesterday was a stark reminder that instead of closing the...
2. Making History Khadr has now spent a third of his life at...

Monday was Day One of the sentencing hearing in the case of Sudanese detainee Ibrahim al-Qosi. Al-Qosi was the first detainee to be convicted under President Obama, in a plea deal entered this June in which he admitted to being an al Qaeda cook and occassional driver. Yesterday sawjury selection of senior military officers, who would deliver a formal sentence in al-Qosi’s case. If the jury delivers a sentence longer than what was agreed to in the plea bargin, it will be moot. Unless the jury delivers a shorter sentence, al-Qosi’s true sentence will be what was hammered out in the plea agreement.

But in an unprecedented move, military judge Air Force Lt. Col. Nancy Paul ordered today that al-Qosi’s true sentence will be kept secret until he’s released. The judge said the government requested that the sentence be kept secret.

A fellow observer of the military commissions here, former Marine judge and law of war expert Gary Solis, here to monitor the commissions for the National Institute for Military Justice, says he has participated in 700 courts-martial and has never heard of a secret sentence.

Last month, the Al-Arabiya satellite news network cited two sources who have seen the plea agreement and say the plea deal would cap al-Qosi’s sentence at two years (beyond the eight years he’s already served). I’ve heard speculation here at Gitmo that the reason for concealing al-Qosi’s sentence from the public is to prevent political attacks portraying the Obama administration as weak on terrorism before the November mid-term elections. (There have been only three other convictions by the military commissions — all under former President Bush — and two of the three have already been released. Former Guantánamo detainee Salim Hamdan’s 2008 sentence of five months on top of time served drew fierce criticism from some.)

This country deserves more than election-year charade, in which a jury delivers a show sentence and the true sentence is concealed from the public because some may perceive it as too lenient.

A final pretrial hearing also took place Monday in the case of Canadian Omar Khadr, who will start trial today as the first test trial of the military commissions under President Obama. In a summary decision of only a few words, and with no explanation, the military judge in Omar Khadr’s case, Col. Patrick Parrish, denied defense motions to exclude self-incriminating statements Khadr made to interrogators because of torture and other abuse. The judge will issue a written decision, certainly after the trial begins and possibly after it’s ended, but for now he’s offered no explanation.

It boggles the mind that the military judge could find that Khadr was not coerced and gave these statements to interrogators voluntarily. Khadr, then 15 years old, was taken to Bagram near death, after being shot twice in the back, blinded by shrapnel, and buried in rubble from a bomb blast. He was interrogated within hours, while sedated and handcuffed to a stretcher. He was threatened with gang rape and death if he didn’t cooperate with interrogators. He was hooded and chained with his arms suspended in a cage-like cell, and his primary interrogator was later court-martialed for detainee abuse leading to the death of a detainee. During his subsequent eight-year (so far) detention at Guantánamo, Khadr was subjected to the "frequent flyer" sleep deprivation program and he says he was used as a human mop after he was forced to urinate on himself.

In closing arguments before the judge’s ruling, Khadr’s sole defense lawyer, Lt. Col. Jon Jackson, told the judge, "Sir, be a voice today. Tell the world that we actually stand for what we say we stand for."

Though President Obama promised that coerced evidence would not be used against detainees in the military commissions, today’s ruling suggests that as a country, we stand for abusing a 15-year-old teenager into confessing, and using those confessions against him in an illegitimate proceeding.

Not just Omar Khadr, but also the United States, is on trial starting tomorrow. We should show the world that we can provide a fair trial to Omar Khadr, after what is known about what we’ve done to him. But that simply is not going to happen in a Guantánamo military commisison designed to ensure quick convictions at the expense of due process and transparency, and structured to prevent the revelation of abusive interrogations engaged in by the U.S. government.

(Originally posted on DailyKos.)

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post stated that Gary Solis “presided over 700 courts-martial.” That was incorrect. Solis presided over 400 cases as a judge, but participated in 760 as a lawyer or judge.

Related posts:

1. Making History Khadr has now spent a third of his life at...
2. On New York’s new Islamic Center, I stand with Russell Simmons As you may have heard, an Islamic cultural center is...
3. A Win Against Warrantless GPS Tracking On Friday, a unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of...

In-state Tuition Urged for Undocumented New Jersey Immigrants
A state Senate advisory panel recommended in-state tuition for immigrant students, drivers’ licenses for immigrants and a commission dedicated to immigrant issues. Governor Jon S. Corzine said he would push state lawmakers to support the commission, making New Jersey one of few states with a commission dedicated to immigrant affairs. NewsDay

Some Californians Prefer Unaffordable Housing
A small group of 19 Mountain View residents are upset with a city proposal that would create an affordable housing project next to a newly developed condominium complex. One resident complained the city is “building a ghetto” that would decrease property values. Mountain View Voice

Students Push UC to Expand Terms of Racial Identification
A group of Middle Eastern students at UCLA are organizing to create a checkbox on the UC application for Arab identified students saying it would better represent diversity at the UC and improve research studies. Los Angeles Times

U.S. Supreme Court Upholds San Francisco Healthcare Program
The court rejected a request made by the Golden Gate Restaurant Association that would have relieved employers from contributing to the city’s healthcare program that covers 37,000 workers who would be uninsured without the program. CBS 5

Related posts:

1. Teacher Layoffs Cut Down On Diversity, and Other News (links to four news stories) Project Labor Agreements May Overlook Women, People of Color President...
2. Obama’s Unclear Line on Immigration Is Obama's appeal to a broader coalition compromising the rights...
3. Obama Can’t Play Centrist on Immigration Crisis THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION seems quite capable of centrist positioning on...

The honors cascade upon Elaine R. Jones, woman of extraordinary accomplishment, like an avalanche schussing down a high mountain slope. But, albeit the honors, awards, compliments from prominent organizations, institutions and civic groups, Elaine Jones remains the same: An ebullient personality handling with aplomb a whirlwind schedule – while holding fast to and holding up the banner of the struggle for freedom.

Wednesday, Jones, the former President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF), received yet another award: the George Bundy Smith Pioneer Award of the New York State Bar Association. The award was given by the bar’s Commercial and Federal Litigation Section during a reception at Lincoln Center, in Manhattan.

In introducing Jones, Bernice Lieber, president of the state bar association, and a partner at Arent Fox LLP, in New York City, said Jones’ career exemplified the “commitment to legal excellence and sustained public service” that the award was intended to bring to public notice.

There was a special poignancy to the moment, and not only because George Bundy Smith, whose distinguished legal career included service as an Associate Judge of the New York Court of Appeals for 14 years, was there and spoke briefly but movingly of his admiration for Jones.

The connection between the two goes deeper. George Bundy Smith, now a partner at Chadbourne & Park LLP in New York, began his career as an LDF attorney in 1961. He was hired by Jack Greenberg, who had just succeeded Thurgood Marshall as LDF President and Director-Counsel.

A decade later, Greenberg would hire a newly-minted University of Virginia Law School graduate: Elaine R. Jones.

Typically, Jones brushed past her own achievements in her acceptance speech in favor of a discourse that was part laser-like dissection of some of the nation’s current social problems, part pitch for greater support of LDF, and part revival-meeting call for her audience to continue the struggle for equality.

“Anything I have accomplished,” she said, with her usual vibrant force, “I have accomplished with the help and support of others,” adding after a moment that, albeit all the progress that can be justly celebrated today, it is “not enough.”

For example, referring to the composition of the federal courts, Jones was blunt.

“I don’t think there is a progressive side anymore. There’s no Left there,” she said. “There’s too much sameness there, and I’m going to do all I can as one person to change that. I’m putting you on notice,” she emphasized, as the gathering laughed in appreciation.

It was clear long before the speech’s last words that Jones’ credo remains what it has always been: “There is much work yet to be done, and the work goes on.”

Jones’ audience included a healthy contingent of friend and former colleagues from LDF. They included two former LDF Presidents and Directors-Counsel, Jack Greenberg and Ted Shaw, both now professors at Columbia Law School,  Ted Wells, co-chair of the LDF Board and partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Garrison & Wharton, Toni Fay, a former executive at Time Warner, Nannette Gibson, a senior member of the Board, Jacqueline Berrien, Associate Director-Counsel, and Board member Clifford Case III and his wife, Karen Dubno.

Lee A. Daniels is Editor-in-Chief of TheDefendersOnline and Director of Communications for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.

Related posts:

1. Balancing Race and Gender: LDF Women Pioneers African-American women made the Civil Rights Movement possible...
2. President Obama Reaffirms Commitment to Immigration Reform PRESIDENT OBAMA declares at a town hall meeting that it...
3. TAKE ACTION: Tell the President to ban landmines (HRW) President Obama has an opportunity to get US landmine policy...

“Too often over the past decade, the fight against terrorism has been viewed as a zero-sum battle with our civil liberties,” Attorney General Eric Holder said in a speech a few hours before the documents were released. “Not only is that school of thought misguided, I fear that in actuality it does more harm than good.”

The newly released documents illustrate just how far off the reservation the Bush team went to violate Constitutional rights in the name of fighting terror.

The legal memos written by the Bush administration’s Office of Legal Counsel show a government grappling with how to wage war on terrorism in a fast-changing world. The conclusion, reiterated in page after page of documents, was that the president had broad authority to set aside constitutional rights.

Fourth Amendment protections against unwarranted search and seizure, for instance, did not apply in the United States as long as the president was combatting terrorism, the Justice Department said in an Oct. 23, 2001, memo.

“First Amendment speech and press rights may also be subordinated to the overriding need to wage war successfully,” Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo wrote, adding later: “The current campaign against terrorism may require even broader exercises of federal power domestically.”

Yep. Those same Republicans that preach the sanctity of the U.S. Constitution, willfully violated it.

Just earlier this week, Rush Limbaugh proclaimed:

We want every American to be the best he or she chooses to be. We recognize that we are all individuals. We love and revere our founding documents, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

Of course, Limbaugh apparently doesn’t know the difference between the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution…but whatever, right?

He further stated:

Well, the Constitution doesn’t need to be redefined.

Oops. Bush did exactly that, Mr. Limbaugh. Are you going to chastise him? Is Bush Un-American? Is he a criminal?

Just wondering.

Related posts:

1. Bush Administration Engaged in a Conscious Policy of Torture As more pieces of a very ugly mosaic fall into...
2. WSJ: Employee Free Choice Does NOT Eliminate Secret Ballots       A striking concession today from the...
3. Obama to sign UN gay rights declaration The AP reports that the Obama Administration will endorse a...