The Seton Hall law school's Center for Social Justice (which does great work on behalf of the Guantanamo detainees) has filed a lawsuit against ICE challenging their immigration raids. You can read the complaint and exhibits here.

The suit, against officials of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, on behalf of 10 plaintiffs, including two United States citizens, contends that teams of ICE agents used “deceit or, in some cases, raw force” to gain “unlawful entry.”

The lawsuit claims that agents, sometimes misrepresenting themselves as local police officers hunting for criminals, entered homes where no fugitives being sought were present and detained residents without showing any legal cause. Immigration agents have broad authority to question foreigners about their immigration status, but they may not enter a home without either a warrant or consent.

Some examples of the complained of ICE actions: [More...]

I've got jail visits today. There's lots of new posts up from last night, or you can use this thread to pick the topics. If you see our troll from yesterday, e-mail me so I can log on and delete her.

Oh, and keep it civil please.

Update: Comments now closed.

Via the Washington Post: What does $40 million buy Obama? In addition to blanketing PA with ads,

In North Carolina, one of the two vital May 6 states, the Obama campaign's office count has risen to 16, including smaller locales like Hickory, Boone and Elizabeth City. Two Obama television ads are airing around the state, at a total cost of $800,000, according to a source familiar with the campaign's media budget. Today alone, an army of organizers and volunteers conducted 22 training and and voter registration sessions, focusing in particular on African Americans, students, and independents and Republicans.

In Indiana, the other May 6 contest, the Obama campaign has so far spent over $1 million on TV and radio ads. The office tally climbed today to 17. The Obama campaign's latest gimmick: a high school-outreach program that targets students who will turn 18 by the Nov. 4 general election, making them eligible as primary voters. Indiana students who register at least 20 of their peers by April 6 will be eligible to play three-on-three basketball with Obama, a big-time hoops fan and reputed aggressor on the court.

Obama has spent $3 million on Pennsylvania ads to date to Hillary's $500k.

Hillary will be on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno tonight. Fox News has a wrapup.

A regular on Letterman this campaign season, Hillary Clinton took a seat on the couch of his Los Angeles Late Night Rival — and took her share of good natured lumps. In an intro at the top of the show, she did a sketch skewering her 3am phone call ad, fielding a call from Leno asking her to appear on the show before saying “we’ve GOT to get caller ID.”

And in the monologue, Leno mocked her recent Rocky Balboa infatuation, saying “We have the Italian stallion on the show tonight — Hillary Clinton, ladies and gentlemen.”

She takes on the Bosnia snipers and Rocky:

Walking out to the theme from Rocky, Clinton told Leno she was worried she wouldn’t make the show — saying “I was pinned down by sniper fire.” Leno replied “In LA, that might be true.”

She also talked about Bill's excitability on the campaign trail.

A Research 2000 poll of Indiana voters is out today. It has Hillary 49%, Obama 46% with a 5 point margin of error. Full poll results are here (pdf).

The poll over-represented African-American voters. They make up 12% of those surveyed, but 9% of Indiana's population. 81% of those surveyed favor Obama to 16% for Hillary.

Obama had a big lead in the 18 to 29 age group, 63 percent to 36 percent, but in the over 60 age group, Hillary leads 60% to 34%.

And Hillary leads the 30 to 44 age group by 7 points and the 45 to 59 age group by 6 points.

Hillary's campaign says she isn't taking a single vote for granted and the race will be close. [More...]

John Edwards today said he will not accept the vice-presidential nomination. Nor would he endorse either Hillary or Obama.

Ideas on why he wouldn't accept the VP slot? Here's mine: He doesn't think either Hillary or Obama will win in November and he wants to keep his path open in 2012. By being a good soldier and campaigning for the eventual nominee this year, but not sharing the ticket, he gets to be a team player but avoid blame for a loss, which may increase his chances next time.

Howard Dean and the Michigan Democratic party will put out a statement tomorrow that there will be no revote in Michigan.

In order for the delegates to be seated, the campaigns will have to agree on how to apportion those from the January primary.

Presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton supported holding a second election so the delegates could be seated, but rival Barack Obama feared problems.

....In the statement, they’re expected to say the DNC is committed to seating Michigan’s delegates at this summer’s convention as long as any agreement is supported by the party’s two presidential contenders.

As to the candidate's proposals:

The Obama campaign has called for splitting the delegates 50-50, regardless of Clinton’s Jan. 15 win. The Clinton campaign so far has rejected that idea.

Delegates to the state convention will be chosen April 19. Michigan has 128 pledged delegates and 28 superdelegates.

There's probably something to like for everyone in this wide-ranging CBS/New York Times poll of all registered voters (not just Dems). (Full poll results here. (pdf.)

What stood out to me:

• Those polled who either voted or will vote in Democratic primaries prefer Obama to Hillary, 46% to 43%, a statistical tie. But, Obama fell from 54% in Februrary to 46% in March and April while Hillary rose from 38% to 43%.

• Obama does better than Hillary with Republicans. His support among Independents and Democrats is down a bit, but it's up among Republicans.

• Hillary leads Obama in who will do better with the economy and health care.

• Hillary and Obama both best McCain, with Hillary one point better than Obama. Whiile more people think Obama will win the nomination, they both beat McCain and are essentially tied here. [More...]

When Massachussetts federal bankruptcy judge Robert Somma tendered his resignation after being arrested for D.U.I while wearing women's clothing, members of both sides of the bankruptcy bar, those representing creditors as well as debtors, embarked on a letter writing campaign to the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, asking it to reject the resignation.

"Recent events do not in any manner diminish Judge Somma's ability to fulfill his duties and to remain as a highly respected member of the bench with the overwhelming support of the community of bankruptcy practitioners," said the letter, which Moore helped write. More than 200 bankruptcy lawyers signed the letter, one of several sent to the court by Somma's supporters in the legal community after he submitted his resignation.

On Tuesday, Somma wrote in a letter to the editor of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly that the outpouring of support had caused him to reconsider his resignation, which he said he submitted following a "media frenzy."

The times, they are a changing.

The letter-writing campaign illustrates how perspectives have changed about behavior such as cross-dressing. Twenty years ago, several lawyers acknowledged, it was highly unlikely that the legal community would have rallied around a judge who was arrested under circumstances like those in the Somma case

By Big Tent Democrat

Ed Rendell asks:

In an interview with me, the governor was again in media-critic mode. "It took Saturday Night Live to bring some fairness to this election," Rendell said, referring to the show's now famous skit lampooning the media's crush on Obama. "It's stunning. Does Keith Olbermann get checks from the Obama campaign?"

(Emnphasis supplied.) Heh.

Update (TL): Comments are open again, the troll has been deleted. It was ObamaMama who registered as 8 users today, including the offensively named one. All such registrations and comments and comment ratings by him/her have been erased. Thanks to all of you who e-mailed me about it.

By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only

Obama supporter Jonathan Singer cites approvingly to the news that Obama supporters are backing Speaker Pelosi's divisive comments:

[S]everal major Obama donors called Speaker Pelosi and DCCC chair Chris Van Hollen asking how they could be helpful. . . . Mark Gorenberg, a member of Obama’s national finance team, and a long-time DCCC fundraiser, met with Pelosi last Friday.

Unlike Singer, I am bothered by the fact that Obama supporters have backed Pelosi's divisiveness. It is incredibly shortsighted. We will need a united Party in November and Pelosi has been as harmful a Party Elder as we have seen. Her reaction is predictable:

Chris Dodd backtracks big time. Today he says,

In an interview with CNN's John Roberts, Dodd — a supporter of Barack Obama — said he thinks the race will end when "the candidates decide they can't go any further.

"The last thing you want to do is lecture candidates to get out of the race," Dodd also said.

Last week he said,

"Over the next couple of weeks, as we get into April, it seems to me then, that the national leadership of this party has to stand up and reach a conclusion," he added.