Robert Scheer over at Truthdig says there's no immigration crisis and we should legalize the illegals.

There is no immigration crisis -- other than the one created by a small but vocal stripe of opportunist politicians, media demagogues and freelance xenophobes. So it has always been throughout the history of this country when anti-immigrant hysteria periodically reigns during ebbs in our national sense of security and vision.

As to the undocumented workers, Scheer writes:

USA Today has this recap of the Government's closing argument.

"Zacarias Moussaoui came to this country to kill as many Americans as he could," Raskin said. "He was supposed to fly the fifth plane into the White House. Instead he killed people by lying and concealing the plot...that resulted in the worst terrorist attack in the country's history."

Since the prosecutor was allowed to say "lying and concealing", I take it the defense lost on its argument to the Judge that the two are different and the Government should only be allowed to get the death penalty if it shows Moussaoui's lies contributed to a death on 9/11. He had a 5th Amendment right not to say anything, so why are prosecutors being allowed to argue his silence makes him guilty? More on this here.

Update: The defense argued Moussoui is a liar:

Jack Abramoff caught a break today. The judge sentenced him to five years, ten months, the bottom of his guidelines. Adam Kidan received the same sentence. Both will remain free on bond.

The sentence will be concurrent with his Washington sentence, yet to be imposed. Abramoff will continue cooperating and a further reduction of the 70 month sentence is expected.

Bottom line: I don't think Abramoff will do more than three to four years. But, with a $21 million restitution order hanging over his head, he may never be a fat cat again. Great, great lawyering by Abbe Lowell and Neal Sonnett. More on that here.

The Department of Justice has issued a press release stating that Richard Convertino, the lead prosecutor in the failed Detroit terrorism trial, who later claimed to be a whistleblower and sued Ashcroft, has been indicted.

A former federal prosecutor and a Department of State special agent were indicted by a federal grand jury today in Detroit on charges of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and making false declarations in the 2003 terrorism trial United States v. Koubriti in the Eastern District of Michigan, the Department of Justice announced today.

Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard G. Convertino, 45, of Canton, Mich., and Regional Security Officer Harry Raymond Smith III, 49, were named in the indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Detroit. The grand jury also charged Convertino with obstruction of justice in a second criminal case in the Eastern District of Michigan described only as United States v. John Doe.

by TChris

Democracies depend upon citizens exercising their right to vote. Arbitrary deprivations of that right undermine democracy. Judge Michael Spearman in King County, Washington, stood up for democracy by declaring unconstitutional a state law that denied ex-offenders the right to vote if they failed to pay "any and all legal financial obligations" required by their sentences.

"There is simply no rational relationship between the ability to pay and the exercise of constitutional rights," the judge, Michael S. Spearman of King County Superior Court, wrote.

Denying the right to vote to people who simply can't afford to make prompt payment of (often burdensome) fines, court costs, and restitution payments violates their right to equal protection of the law. Judge Spearman noted that Washington was unable to explain why defendants with enough wealth to make immediate payment should have the right to vote, while poorer defendants who had to rely on payment plans should be deprived of that right.

The Judge in the Zacarias Moussaoui trial has barred the defense from playing the martyr card in its closing argument:

The latest strange turn in Moussaoui's behavior could bolster the defense's claims that he would say anything to achieve martyrdom. Defense attorney Edward MacMahon told jurors in opening remarks that Moussaoui can only achieve that now if they vote to execute him. "Don't make him a hero," MacMahon pleaded.

Prosecutors got Brinkema to bar a repeat of that plea as an emotional rather than legal argument. But she agreed to allow MacMahon to argue Wednesday that evidence of a desire for martyrdom calls into question the credibility of Moussaoui's confession to being a part of Sept. 11.

I think she's wrong and that it's entirely proper for the defense to tell the jury in closing arguments that Moussaoui wants to be a martyr. Similar arguments were made in the 2001 Embassy Bombers' trial and were among the reasons the jury returned a life sentence. The lead prosecutor in the case, by the way, was Patrick Fitzgerald.

The defense finished its case in the Zacarias Moussaoui trial today. Closing arguments are set for tomorrow afternoon. The bizarreness continued this afternoon. During its rebuttal case, the prosecution introduced testimony about a meeting between the FBI and Moussaoui at which he offered to testify against himself. Shorter version: Moussaoui offered to help them put him to death.

Confessed al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui told prosecutors days before his death-penalty trial that he would "testify against himself" if he could have better jail accommodations before he is executed, an FBI agent testified Tuesday.

Special Agent Jim Fitzgerald, who joined prosecutors and a defense lawyer at the Feb. 2 evening meeting in the law library at the city jail, said Moussaoui remarked that he "did not want to spend the rest of his life in a Colorado prison."

He said Moussaoui volunteered to admit to being the intended pilot of a fifth plane in the Sept. 11 plot as part of a deal, but never asked the government to drop the death penalty. Fitzgerald said the talks fell apart when prosecutors insisted that Moussaoui agree to give his full cooperation, including testifying against other al Qaeda captives.

Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) made some great comments yesterday in the Senate on immigration reform and Sensenbrenner's bill. It's at page S2402 of The Congressional record, available on Thomas. Here's some of what he said:

It is an interesting story, as we watch the news reports, of the people who are gathering across the United States. Over 110,000, some say close to 200,000, came out in Chicago a few days ago; 500,000 in the city of Los Angeles. There is hardly a major city in America where people have not stepped forward because of their concern about this immigration bill.

Who are these people? They are people we always see but seldom come to know. They are our neighbors. They sit next to us in church; they send their kids to the same school as our kids. They probably cooked your breakfast this morning. They probably washed your dishes and cleaned your hotel room. They are watching your children at daycare and they are changing your aging mother's soiled bed in the nursing home. They make sure your putting green is perfect, and they stand for hours every day in a damp and cold place, watching a production line of chicken carcasses come by, so you can invite friends for a barbecue this weekend.

Investigative journalist Jason Leopold writes that sources at the State Department, the CIA and the National Security Council, as well as lawyers close to the Valerie Plame investigation have told him that Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald is getting ready to indict Karl Rove or Stephen Hadley, or both, perhaps in about a month.

Neither Hadley nor Rove disclosed the existence of the email when they were questioned by FBI investigators or when they testified before a grand jury, the sources said, adding that Rove testified he found out about Plame Wilson from reporters and Hadley testified that he recalled learning about Plame Wilson when her name was published in a newspaper column.

Leopold writes that Fitz wasn't persuaded by Rove lawyer Luskin's most recent entreaties to avoid indictment, particularly Rove's explanation about his e-mail with Hadley.

The L.A. Times has an editorial today, Don't Kill Moussaoui. I couldn't say it any better, so I won't try, I'll just quote:

The 19 hijackers are dead. But there is still Moussaoui. He knew. He helped. Shouldn't he die?

No, he should not. Many committed opponents of the death penalty want to carve out exceptions for mass murderers or those who attack or betray the nation writ large, such as Timothy McVeigh. But if you believe, as does this page, that the death penalty debases our society, the principle becomes all the more important when it is most tempting to ignore. But for those who don't share that conviction, there are some more practical arguments.

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments today in the case of Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Guantanamo detainee who was a chauffer for Osama bin Laden.

Justices Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito, the newest member of the court, pressed [defense lawyer] Katyal to explain why a defendant before a military commission should be given something that defendants in civilian criminal trials normally don't get -- the chance to challenge the case before a verdict is reached.

"If this were like a (civilian) criminal proceeding, we wouldn't be here," Katyal said.

Dan Froomkin has a great column today on Andy Card's resignation.

In most White Houses, the chief of staff is a godlike figure, putting his stamp on the presidency in almost every conceivable way. But in the Bush White House, political guru Karl Rove and Vice President Cheney loom much larger and have way more to do with what the president says and does than Card ever did. As long as they stay put, the rest may largely be window dressing.

As for Bolten, he writes: