[illustration by KERRY WAGHORN] Myth: Kagan banned military recruiters from Harvard Myth: Kagan is “anti-military” Myth: Kagan is “radical” Myth: Kagan’s praise for an Israeli Supreme Court justice shows she’s a radical (NEW) Myth: Kagan’s thesis shows she’s a socialist Myth: Conservatives can credibly argue that Kagan’s personal and political views are relevant to confirmation process Myth: “Kagan Standard” means Kagan must answer questions about issues that will come before the Supreme Court Myth: Kagan’s Goldman Sachs role taints her nomination Myth: Conservative opposition is based on the substance of Kagan’s nomination Myth: Obama used “empathy” standard rather than fealty […]
BREAKING: Obama To Nominate Kagan For SCOTUS
NEW YORK TIMES: President Obama will nominate Solicitor General Elena Kagan as the nation’s 112th justice, choosing his own chief advocate before the Supreme Court to join it in ruling on cases critical to his view of the country’s future, Democrats close to the White House said Sunday. After a monthlong search, Mr. Obama informed Ms. Kagan and his advisers on Sunday of his choice to succeed the retiring Justice John Paul Stevens. He plans to announce the nomination at 10 a.m. Monday in the East Room of the White House with Ms. Kagan by his side, said the Democrats, […]
DENIED: Supreme Court Refuses Mumia Appeal
INQUIRER: Death-row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal lost his bid for a new trial in the killing of a city police officer after the U.S. Supreme Court said Monday that it will not take up the case. Abu-Jamal, a former Black Panther and one-time radio reporter, had claimed prosecutors improperly excluded blacks from the jury that convicted him of murdering white Philadelphia police Officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981. Abu-Jamal’s attorney, Robert R. Bryan of San Francisco, called his client’s trial “a mockery of justice” and said Monday he would seek a rehearing by the high court. But prosecutor Hugh Burns said that […]
THE AMERICAN GULAG: McClatchy Publishes Hard-Hitting Overview Of Gitmo, Who’s There, How They Got There, And Why Most Shouldn’t Be
BY TOM LASSETER OF MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS An eight-month McClatchy investigation in 11 countries on three continents has found that Akhtiar was one of dozens and perhaps hundreds of men whom the U.S. has wrongfully imprisoned in Afghanistan, Cuba and elsewhere on the basis of flimsy or fabricated evidence, old personal scores or bounty payments. McClatchy interviewed 66 released detainees along with a number of local officials, primarily in Afghanistan, and reviewed available U.S. military tribunal documents and other records. Most of the 66 were low-level Taliban grunts, innocent Afghan villagers or ordinary criminals, the McClatchy investigation found. At least seven […]