The American Civil Liberties Union and other human rights groups urged President-elect Obama not to create a special legal system for terror detainees to replace Bush administration's system set up in Guantanamo Bay.
In a letter to Obama, the ACLU, Amnesty International USA, Human Rights First and Human Rights Watch said they "categorically oppose the creation of any other ad-hoc illegal detention system or 'third way'" that would allow the government to hold prisoners without charging them, which the Bush administration has done. Such a system would be "essentially moving Guantanamo on-shore," the groups said.
The Bush administration has argued that the detainees, many of them captured in Afghanistan, aren't U.S. citizens or prisoners of war and thus don't have their legal protections. But the Supreme Court ruled last summer that the military commissions set up by the Bush administration to try detainees are unconstitutional and that the prisoners have the right to bring their cases to U.S. federal court.
Obama has pledged to close Guantanamo prison, but he hasn't said how he will handle the detainees' cases.
Read the civil rights group's full letter to Obama after the jump. Read more...
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) is in the process of drafting a constitutional amendment seeking to curtail the president's constitutional pardoning powers, his office said Friday.
President-elect Barack Obama may soon name the first openly gay or lesbian cabinet secretary, according to reports indicating the president-elect may name activist Mary Beth Maxwell to lead the Department of Labor.
Maxwell gained the support of the largest gay and lesbian rights group, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), which endorsed Maxwell despite having already endorsed Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) a week before.
House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) is anticipating the election of the first black president Tuesday night, so he wanted to watch it in a place with meaning.
He chose the campus of Claflin University in Orangeburg, a key city for the civil rights movement in South Carolina and a place where the highest-ranking black House member has a personal connection.
Clyburn was a student at nearby South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, where he helped organize the state
A new TV ad from the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) accuses John McCain and the Republican Party of intimidating voters, suggesting the GOP candidate and his party are trying to suppress turnout among low- and middle-income Americans and minorities.
The ad was released by the group today and will begin airing it tomorrow. It is ACORN's first ever TV ad in its 28-year history.
The group has been outspoken in accusing Republicans of historically employing voter suppression and intimidation tactics. Recently, after a conservative outcry over thousands of faulty voter registration cards turned in by ACORN, the group has accused conservatives (the McCain campaign included) of trying to "scare up" fears of a voter fraud crisis with the intent of passing laws, such as voter ID requirements, that would suppress turnout among low and middle-income individuals and minorities.
Thus far, ACORN has largely stopped short of accusing McCain of voter suppression tactics directly.
The new ad shows a black man, whose face ages as the ad progresses. A narrator tells viewers that he was intimidated against voting and subsequently disenfranchised in 1965 and again in 2000.
"This year, theyr'e at it again. John McCain and the Republicans are tying to keep him and untold others from voting," the narrator says. "Tell john McCain, 'Not this time.'"
At the end, the narrator tells viewers that "voting is your right. Protecting it is our job."
ACORN's media buy is targeting opinion leaders rather than swing voters, as the ad will air in DC, New York, and Los Angeles, rather than in battleground states.
The Connecticut Supreme Court has overturned that state's ban on gay marriage in a 4-3 decision.
Ruling that gay Americans are afforded equal protection to marry, the court said "our conventional understanding of marriage must yield to a more contemporary appreciation of the rights entitled to constitutional protection."
The ruling could have reverberations in presidential and congressional races, where Republicans used a number of ballot initiatives banning gay marriage to boost turnout for their candidates.
A new Rasmussen poll released Tuesday shows the stark contrast between supporters of Barack Obama and John McCain on the issue of judges.
83 percent of McCain's supporters believe the justices "should rule on what is in the Constitution," while just 29 percent of Obama's supporters said the same.
Meanwhile, nearly half of Obama backers said each justice should rule based on their own personal sense of fairness, versus 11 percent for McCain.
60 percent of those polled believe the Constitution should be the main factor in Supreme Court rulings while 30 percent said rulings should be guided by each justice's sense of fairness and justice.
Barack Obama said he is glad the Supreme Court has bolstered the second amendment's legal power but stressed that its ruling does not mean the end of gun control. Obama was reacting to the court's recent gun decision on Bloomberg TV (see the video here.)
"What I've consistently said is that I believe that the second amendment means something, that it is an individual right, and that's what the Supreme Court held, so I agree with that aspect of the decision," Obama said.
"What I've also said is that every individual right can be bound by the interests of the community at large, and the Supreme Court agreed with that as well," Obama said. "It doesn't mean that local communities can't, you know, pass background checks,
John McCain blasted Barack Obama today for not calling for the Supreme Court's ruling against the D.C. handgun ban ahead of time.
"Unlike Senator Obama, who refused to join me in signing a bipartisan amicus brief, I was pleased to express my support and call for the ruling issued today," McCain said in a statement released by the campaign. "Today's ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller makes clear that other municipalities like Chicago that have banned handguns have infringed on the constitutional rights of Americans. Unlike the elitist view that believes Americans cling to guns out of bitterness, today's ruling recognizes that gun ownership is a fundamental right -- sacred, just as the right to free speech and assembly."
McCain signed an amicus brief calling for the court to strike down the ban. Obama did not, saying he wanted to wait for the court's decision before speaking publicly about it.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) also pounced on Obama, circulating a video of the Illinois Democrat expressing support for gun-control measures.
The Supreme Court held Wednesday in a 5-4 decision that people convicted of raping children should not be subject to the death penalty.
The court rejected a Louisiana law allowing the death penalty for those convicted of raping children aged 12 and younger.
Justice Anthony Kennedy in writing the majority opinion said the death penalty was "not a proportional punishment for the rape of a child." Kennedy was joined by the courts four liberal voices.
The decision will likely become an issue on the campaign trail as the John McCain campaign has been recently trying to hit Barack Obama on the issue of judges. Following the court's decision granting habeas corpus right to accused terrorists being held at Guantanamo Bay, the McCain camp hosted a conference call with reporters led by former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) attacking Obama's support for the decision.
Thompson called that decision "another example of the Supreme Court making policy," and said, "if you want a Supreme Court that makes policy, choose Obama."
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