Attorney General John Edwards

Robert Novak is saying that Barack Obama has had discussions with John Edwards about Edwards being the Attorney General in an Obama Administration.

"Illinois Democrats close to Sen. Barack Obama are quietly passing the word that John Edwards will be named attorney general in an Obama administration," according to Robert Novak.

The appointment of Edwards "would please not only the union leaders supporting him for president but organized labor in general. The unions relish the prospect of an unequivocal labor partisan as the nation's top legal officer."

"In public debates, Obama and Edwards often seem to bond together in alliance against front-running Sen. Hillary Clinton. While running a poor third, Edwards could collect a substantial bag of delegates under the Democratic Party's proportional representation. Edwards then could try to turn his delegates over to Obama in the still unlikely event of a deadlocked Democratic National Convention."

Novak isn't the most popular reporter amongst Democrats, but I think Edwards as Attorney General is an excellent idea. Taking on the corporate interests that control Washington DC has been the theme of Edwards' campaign. As Attorney General, Edwards would have the ability to investigate and hold accountable corporations that have abused the system.

Obama could name Edwards as his choice for Attorney General before the general election and Edwards could campaign on the need to restore the Constitution when it comes to domestic spying, torture, and Habeas Corpus and against corruption in government.

Harkin Speaks about Habeas Corpus and Closing Gitmo

Video of Sen. Tom Harkin at the ACLU's National Day of Action Rally to restore habeas corpus and close the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay

Thanks to Popular Progressive for posting this first.

Defend Habeas

Here is an ad from a group called DefendHabeas.org...

Grassley Votes Against Habeas Corpus

Habeas Corpus, written in 1679, is called the Great Writ. Supreme Court Cases have...

"recognized the fact that`[t]he writ of habeas corpus is the fundamental instrument for safeguarding individual freedom against arbitrary and lawless state action.'

Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary passed the Habeas Corpus Restoration Act out of committee by a vote of 11-8. All Democrats voted for it, plus Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA). The rest of the Republicans voted against it, including Iowa's Charles Grassley. Maybe Grassley is against individual freedom or maybe he is in favor of lawless state action.

Last night, Keith Olbermann covered this vote by having George Washington law professor Jonathon Turley on. Here is part of the transcript...

Olbermann: ... It is easy to imagine Americans who are patriotic but scared, who could just sort of dismiss habeas corpus and other civil liberties as luxuries that make us weak right now. Explain why that's exactly backwards, why they're not luxuries, why they're necessities that make us strong.

Turley: First of all, habeas corpus is sometimes treated like some trick by a Philadelphia lawyer. It is actually the foundation for all other rights. When the government throws you into a dungeon for what you say or who you pray to, it's habeas corpus that's the right that allows you to see the enforcement of the other rights. So without habeas corpus, the rest of it is just aspirational and meaningless.

The danger when you walk away from these values, these rights that define us have been proven by this president. The greatest irony of the Bush Administration is that his legacy will be to show the dangers of walking away from those rights that define us. We’re very much alone today. He can’t go to Canada without people protesting, Miss America can’t even go to Mexico without being booed. We’re viewed as a rogue nation and it is a dangerous world to live in when you’re alone. In Italy, they're prosecuting in abstentia our own agents. This doesn't make us safer.... It's very interesting that the lesson this president may leave for his successors is that whether you are inclined to walk away from those core rights or not, that is what puts us in the greatest danger.

Olbermann: The right to bear arms, to believe your religion or to not believe any religion at all, to say what you want, these rights get people fired up, no matter what side of the debate they're on. Is not habeas corpus essential to all of them? You don't have that, it doesn't matter what the second amendment says?

Turley: That's right.... all those rights are meaningless [without habeas corpus] because it's habeas corpus that allows you to get to a court who can hear your complaint. So without habeas corpus it's just basically words that have no meaning, and this president has shown the dangers of the assertion of absolute power. He has asserted the right to take an American citizen, declare them unilaterally an enemy combatant and deny them all rights. The courts have said otherwise and now Congress will say otherwise.

Sen. Russ Feingold had this to say about fighting terrorism...

Without freedom, we are not America. If we don't preserve our liberties, we cannot win this war, no matter how many terrorists we capture or kill.

With Sen. Grassley voting against Habeas Corpus, does that mean he wants the terrorists to win?

Tell Grassley to Restore Habeas Corpus

From Daily Kos...

Senators Leahy and Specter have introduced the Habeas Corpus Restoration Act (S. 185). The legislation restores habeas rights to foreign nationals who are detained as enemy combatants or who are awaiting determination of their combatant status. It's a critical piece of legislation to undo the most egregious wrong of the Military Commissions Act. The bill is going to be marked up in the Judiciary Committee tomorrow.

Senator Leahy is asking for our help in garnering support for the legislation:

Many of you may recall the hasty passage of the Military Commissions Act in the weeks leading up to last year's election, a bill that set new rules for trying detainees, in particular those currently being held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

The passage of this bill was a profound mistake, and its elimination of habeas corpus review was its worst error. Righting this wrong is one of my top priorities, and on the first day of this Congress I joined with Senator Arlen Specter to introduce the Habeas Corpus Restoration Act (S. 185). This bipartisan bill already has 17 cosponsors, but it faces a crucial vote in the Judiciary Committee this Thursday so we need your help.

Please e-mail your home-state Senators today and urge them to protect our fundamental liberties by supporting the Habeas Corpus Restoration Act!

Via Christy at FDL, here are the members of the Judiciary Committee who haven't already signed on as cosponsors of the bill:

Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI)
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)
Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-MD)
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT)
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
Sen. John Kyl (R-AZ)
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL)
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX)
Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS)
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK)

Call or e-mail the offices of these Senators to urge them to support S. 185 in committee tomorrow. Here are the toll free numbers for the Capitol Switchboard:

1 (800) 828 - 0498
1 (800) 459 - 1887
1 (800) 614 - 2803
1 (866) 340 - 9281
1 (866) 338 - 1015
1 (877) 851 - 6437

Even if your Senators aren't on the Judiciary Committee, call and ask them to support this legislation. Given that Specter is a sponsor, it will probably get enough support to get out of committee and get a vote in the full Senate. Or, if your Senator is one of the following, thank them for cosponsoring this critical bill: Biden, Brown, Cantwell, Clinton, Dodd, Durbin, Feingold, Feinstein, Harkin, Kennedy, Kerry, Lautenberg, Leahy, Levin, Obama, Rockefeller, Salazar, Whitehouse.

I think it is interesting that this bill is sponspored by the top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee. It makes me wonder how the heck habeas corpus was suspended in the first place.

Chris Dodd on Restoring Habeas Corpus

Chris Dodd is introducing legislation that would restore Habeas Corpus and redefine who an enemy combatant is. The legislation is co-sponsored by Sen. Patrick Leahy, Sen. Russ Feingold, and Sen. Robert Menedez. Here is Sen. Dodd discussing the bill...

Alberto Gonzalez Gone Wild

Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee this past week. Gonzalez ridiculously attempts to say that habeas corpus is not granted in the Constitution. Republican Senator Arlen Spector responds...

Specter: Now wait a minute, wait a minute. The Constitution says you can't take it away except in the case of invasion or rebellion. Doesn't that mean you have the right of habeas corpus?

Gonzales: I meant by that comment that the Constitution doesn't say that every individual in the United States or every citizen has or is assured the right of habeas corpus. It doesn't say that. It simply says that the right of habeas corpus shall not be suspended.

Specter: "You may be treading on your interdiction and violating common sense, Mr. Attorney General."

Chris Dodd Introduces Legislation to Restore Habeus Corpus

Today, Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd introduced legislation that would restore Habeas Corpus and other rights to the Military Commisions Act, or the Torture Bill, (which I wrote about here and here) that was just recently pushed through the Senate before the election. From Dodd's website, the legislation...

• Restores Habeas Corpus protections to detainees
  
• Narrows the definition of unlawful enemy combatant to individuals who directly participate in hostilities against the United States who are not lawful combatants
  
• Bars information gained through coercion from being introduced as evidence in trials
  
• Empowers military judges to exclude hearsay evidence they deem to be unreliable
  
• Authorizes the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces to review decisions by the Military commissions
  
• Limits the authority of the President to interpret the meaning and application of the Geneva Conventions and makes that authority subject to congressional and judicial oversight
  
• Provides for expedited judicial review of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 to determine the constitutionally of its provisions
  

“We in Congress have our own obligation, to work in a bipartisan way to repair the damage that has been done, to protect our international reputation, to preserve our domestic traditions, and to provide a successful mechanism to improve and enhance the tools required by the global war on terror,” Dodd said.

Now that Feingold is out of the 08 race, one of the candidates that I have my eye on is Chris Dodd. This is a postive statement by Dodd and shows that the Democrats are serious correcting the failings of the Bush Administration over the past 6 years.

Here, is the Matt Stoller's take from MyDD.

Habeas Whatus?

The Senate voted today to take a giant step back in time, to pre-Magna Carta days, by passing the Torture Bill that strips detainees of their right of habeas corpus and allow America to torture detainees a little bit, just as long as we don't go too far.

Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) had this to say during the Senate debate...

In the wake of the attack of 9/11, and in the fact of the continuing terrorist threat, now is not the time for the United States to abandon its principles. Admiral Hutson was right to point out that when we do there would be little to distinguish America from a “banana republic” or the repressive regimes against which we are trying to rally the world and the human spirit. Now is not the time to abandon American values, to shiver and quake, to rely on secrecy and torture. Those are ways of repression and oppression, not the American way.

The habeas provisions of this bill are wrong-headed and flagrantly unconstitutional. Tinkering with them would not make them less wrong-headed, but might make them less flagrantly unconstitutional, and I see no reason to save the Administration from itself and from the inevitable defeat when the Supreme Court strikes them down. Why should those of us who take our oath to uphold the Constitution seriously, and who understand the fundamental importance of habeas to freedom, compromise with the drafters of this irresponsible bill?