by TChris

The ACLU of Indiana filed suit this week to block an Indianapolis ordinance that would prevent former sex offenders from traveling, living, or working within 1,000 feet of a park, playground, swimming pool, recreation center, sports field, or other designated areas where children might congregate.

Calling the ordinance passed in mid-May unconstitutionally vague, the group said it would make law-abiding citizens unwitting violators of the ordinance and hinder their ability to work, vote and worship.

The ordinance applies retroactively, punishing individuals who have long and untroubled residences near a prohibited area (nearly anyplace within city boundaries). The City makes an exception for ex-offenders who are accompanied by another adult, but people who have paid their debt to society shouldn't need an escort to travel to work or to exercise their right to vote.

Dateline Aspen: Today is the final day of the NORML Aspen legal seminar. Troy Hooper of the Aspen Daily News (link fixed) takes a look at the first day's events including my presentation on Terrorism and the War on Drugs: The Shrinking of the Constitution.

Gerry and Chris Goldstein once again have opened their home to all of us, hosting a very fun pre-dinner Wednesday night and a NORML benefit dinner last night. Last night's dinner was attended by more than 50 people, and included Aspen Sheriff Bob Braudis (recovering from bronchitis, it was his first day out) and Anita and Juan Thompson (Hunter Thompson's wife and son). Chris Lanter, the incredible chef of Aspen's Cache-Cache restaurant, took charge in the kitchen and contributed not only his time but all of the food. Why? He told me:

Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) spoke at the Massachussetts Democratic Convention last night:

"My vote against this misbegotten war is the best vote I have cast in the United States Senate since I was elected in 1962," Kennedy said. "And my call more than a year ago -- more than a year ago -- to bring our troops home is one of my proudest moments."

Kennedy said the U.S. presence in Iraq "inflames the insurgency. We are a crutch for an Iraqi government that needs to stand on its own."

There's been little news in the Duke lacrosse players' alleged rape case the past few days, but the comments keep coming so here's a new thread. And some player news:

[Matt] Zash and two former teammates, Kyle Dowd and Dan Flannery, took part in workouts hours before the Major League Lacrosse college draft. All three were selected in Wednesday night's draft, and Zash could make his professional debut as early as Saturday when his Philadelphia Barrage faces the New Jersey Pride.

The Judge in the Scooter Libby case has ruled on Libby's discovery motion seeking a wide array of documents. All of Libby's requests were denied except one. Tim Grieves at Salon provides his usual lucid and correct analysis. Tom Maguire hosts the Court Order here, and offers his analysis is here.

From the Court's ruling.

...the only question the jury will be asked to resolve in this matter will be whether the defendant intentionally lied when he testified before the grand jury and spoke with FBI agents about statements he purportedly made to the three news reporters concerning Ms. Wilson's employment. The prosecution of this action, therefore, involves a discrete cast of characters and events, and this Court will not permit it to become a forum for debating the accuracy of Ambassador Wilson's statements, the propriety of the Iraq war or related matters leading up to the war, as those events are not the basis for the charged offenses. At best, these events have merely an abstract relationship to the charged offenses.1

Via BradBlog from the Palm Beach Post on the She-Pundit with Long Blond Hair:

Conservative pundit and best-selling political writer Ann Coulter has hired a white-glove, White House-connected law firm to fight allegations she voted illegally in February's Town of Palm Beach election. And the attorney from the Miami-based Kenny Nachwalter firm is no stranger to Palm Beach voting. Marcos Jimenez -- who was, along with the more famous Olson, one of the lead attorneys who fought for George W. Bush's side in the 2000 presidential election snafu here -- was assigned to Coulter.

Jimenez is also a former Bush-appointed U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida.

RFK, Jr. was just on CNN discussing his Rolling Stone article alleging that but for voting fraud in Ohio, John Kerry would have won the 2004 election.

How might this fraud have been carried out? One way to steal votes is to tamper with individual ballots -- and there is evidence that Republicans did just that....In addition to altering individual ballots, evidence suggests that Republicans tampered with the software used to tabulate votes.....Election officials in Ohio worked outside the law to avoid hand recounts.

I had a hard time following RFK, Jr. Something is very wrong wth his voice. It shakes terribly while he talks. Is this something new?

by TChris

Nizah Hassan, together with the American Civil Liberties Union and the Council on American Islamic Relations, brought a lawsuit challenging the National Security Administration's domestic spying program. U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor "chided the NSA and lawyers for the Department of Justice for failing to respond to the court challenge" even after receiving two extensions of time to do so. The government eventually argued that justifying its actions in court would jeopardize national security, and asked the judge to dismiss the suit. She didn't.

Instead, Judge Taylor will allow Hassan to proceed with a motion that asked the court to summarily declare the spying program illegal.

"The hearing shall be held on Monday, June 12, 2006, as scheduled," Diggs Taylor ordered. "Although defendants have not responded to said motion they may, if they appear, argue against it."

Texas moves one step closer to vigiliantism.

A US state is to enlist web users in its fight against illegal immigration by offering live surveillance footage of the Mexican border on the internet. The plan will allow web users worldwide to watch Texas' border with Mexico and phone the authorities if they spot any apparently illegal crossings.

And in Denver, a local radio host, Peter Boyles, takes donations and forms a company, Billboards Colorado, to put up anti-immigrant rights billboards around the city.

Better reading: Robert Lovato, Michelle Garcia and Salim Muwakkil in the new edition of the Nation.

by TChris

A lawyer for a Marine being held in solitary confinement at Camp Pendeton says his client and seven other members of the military could soon be charged with murder, kidnapping and conspiracy. The charges will focus on the death of an Iraqi civilian and an alleged cover-up. The incident is unrelated to the killings in Haditha.

The Iraqi man reportedly was dragged from his home west of Baghdad and shot in April. The Los Angeles Times and NBC News said troops may have planted an AK-47 and shovel near the body to make it appear the man was an insurgent burying a roadside bomb. ...

Separately, another group of five Marines in Kilo Company, including a lieutenant who commanded the platoon, are under investigation for injuring a suspect in their custody, said a defense attorney who has been contacted by the family of one of the Marines.

by TChris

The killings in Haditha are not an isolated incident, according to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki.

In his comments, Mr. Maliki said violence against civilians had become a "daily phenomenon" by many troops in the American-led coalition who "do not respect the Iraqi people."

"They crush them with their vehicles and kill them just on suspicion," he said. "This is completely unacceptable." Attacks on civilians will play a role in future decisions on how long to ask American forces to remain in Iraq, the prime minister added.

The U.S. shouldn't wait to be asked to leave. The war to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi public has been lost. It's time to bring the troops home.

by TChris

Update: Cardona received a reduction in rank and a sentence of 90 days at hard labor.

original post:

Another Army dog handler has been convicted of committing military crimes at Abu Ghraib.

Sgt. Santos A. Cardona is the 11th soldier convicted of crimes stemming from the abuse of inmates at the prison in late 2003 and early 2004. Cardona, 32, of Fullerton, Calif., was convicted of dereliction of duty and aggravated assault for allowing his dog to bark within inches of a prisoner's face.

Cardona was acquitted of more serious charges, "including unlawfully having his dog bite an inmate and conspiring with another dog handler to frighten prisoners into soiling themselves." Cardona's defense counsel argued that Cardona's career depended on pleasing people who were monitoring the progress made at Abu Ghraib.

By late November, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary Paul Wolfowitz were said to have taken an intense interest in gathering intelligence from Abu Ghraib, even calling nightly to check on information, according to trial testimony.