Russ McBee

I've often thought that President Bush probably read ''The Trial'' and ''1984'' at some point and mistook them for how-to manuals. Today's signing of the FISA bill tends to support that theory. On the heels of yesterday's capitulation by the Senate on telecom immunity and warrantless spying, President Bush wasted no time in signing this abrogation ...

The Senate predictably caved today and passed the FISA reform bill, which included immunity for the telecommunications companies that had conspired with intelligence agencies to spy on Americans without warrant. Bruce Afran, an attorney representing plaintiffs suing the telecom companies over their collaboration, described today's vote as ...

In this interview with Amy Goodman, Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) promises to filibuster the horrid FISA amnesty bill when it reaches the Senate. First, he outlines the most potent objections to the bill: Sen. Russ Feingold: Well, this is a great blow to the rights of the American people. And much of the publicity has been about a very ...

This morning, the US Supreme Court handed down its decision in Boumediene v. Bush, holding that Guantanamo detainees have the right to challenge their detention in US civilian courts. As SCOTUSblog said: The Court, dividing 5-4, ruled that Congress had not validly taken away habeas rights. If Congress wishes to suspend habeas, it must do so ...

The FBI has always had the ability to obtain evidence through subpoenas issued by judges. In a case tangentially related to the 2005 London bombings, an FBI agent lawfully obtained a subpoena for the seizure of certain records from a suspect at North Carolina State University (who was later exonerated). Meanwhile, the agent's superiors in ...

Senators Jay Rockefeller and Patrick Leahy and Congressmen Silvestre Reyes and John Conyers have an op-ed piece in tomorrow's Christian Science Monitor that calls out the White House on its fear-mongering tactics regarding warrantless surveillance: Our country did not ''go dark'' on Feb. 16 when the Protect America Act (PAA) expired. ...

The spineless Democratic leadership of Congress has outdone itself; Pelosi and Reid caved to the Bush White House twice in one day. On the proposed emergency stimulus package, House Dems caved to the White House and struck provisions which would have extended unemployment benefits and expanded the food stamps program. Of course, millionaires will ...

Michael Mukasey proved on Thursday that he is unfit to serve as Attorney General of the United States: President Bush's choice for attorney general, Michael B. Mukasey, embraced some of the administration's most controversial legal positions yesterday, suggesting that Bush could ignore surveillance statutes in wartime and avoiding a declaration ...

One year ago today, President Bush signed into law the Military Commissions Act of 2006. This malignant, perfidious law gives the president the authority to suspend habeas corpus for anyone he chooses. It also sanctifies the admissibility of evidence obtained through torture. For a full year now, our country has been deprived of one of its most ...

Mike McConnell, the Director of National Intelligence, gave an interview to the El Paso Times on his new warrantless surveillance powers. A superficial reading of the transcript (and this associated article, via Newscoma) might suggest that all is well and good, and that Americans' rights are being protected. Not surprisingly, closer examination ...