by TChris

After fighting so vigorously to keep Jose Padilla from having his day in court (TalkLeft background collected here), the Justice Department now finds itself fighting to convince the Fourth Circuit to disregard its earlier claim that Padilla is actually an enemy combatant who should be denied the protections of the Constitution. In the words of Emily Litella, "Never mind."

In papers Friday, lawyers for the Justice Department said that the president had the authority to choose to prosecute Mr. Padilla on charges of participating in a terrorist cell in North America. As a consequence, the issues raised in the case before the appeals court as to whether he could be held as an enemy combatant were now moot. The court should even withdraw its opinion on the matter, the department said.

Accusations that Padilla intended to detonate a “dirty bomb” somewhere on U.S. soil have quietly slipped away, leaving the Fourth Circuit to wonder what all the fuss was about. The Justice Department likely fears that the Supreme Court would reject its authority to declare an American citizen arrested within U.S. borders an “enemy combatant.” But the Fourth Circuit may be unwilling to treat the question as moot, given the government’s ability to flip-flop once more if its criminal case against Padilla unravels (as did its heralded terrorism prosecution of Sami al-Arian).

by Last Night in Little Rock

You've seen it on CSI: NY: police use cellphones as tracking devices by a mere call to the cellphone provider. It's not that easy, at least not anymore.

Three recent cases have been reported on www.FourthAmendment.com where the government's request to use cellphones to track them real time have been denied. The NY Times has a comprehensive article about it today by Matt Richtel: Live Tracking of Mobile Phones Prompts Court Fights on Privacy.

It is quite real and tells us that, while Big Brother is not watching, Big Brother can try to get the information from your cellphone provider via the USA PATRIOT Act. An allegation of terrorism, however, is not required. Yet another abuse of the PATRIOT Act.

Judges, however, have stopped buying into it without a showing of probable cause or exigent circumstances. But, under the PATRIOT Act, a terrorism allegation is not required.

What a frightening story. A man and his 14 year old son disembark from public transit, the DART police arrest the father for jaywalking, rough him and his son up, take the father into custody, leave the kid alone to find his way wherever, and the father can't make bond and does 11 days in jail.

What's wrong with this picture? Everything it seems.

Joe Lieberman has been Republican lite for years. Now he's a Bushite. It's great to see that Democrats are finally acknowledging it.

At the same time, Republicans are embracing him, including Dick Cheney.

Although some Democrats are upset with Mr. Lieberman, Republicans are embracing him, with President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld singling him out, and his support for the war, for praise in speeches this week.

Does anyone remember when Lieberman backed Jeb Bush's law that called for the reinsertion of Teri Schiavo's feeding tube? Or that he supported the death penalty for offenders under 18 at the time of their crimes? That he was willing to work with Bush on social security?

Memo to Republicans: Take him, he's your's.

Radley Balko at the Agitator is creating a much-needed storm over Cory Maye:

Maye today sits on Mississippi's death row, convicted of capital murder for shooting police officer Ron Jones. It's probably worth mentioning that Jones is white, and Maye is black. It's probably also worth mentioning that at the time of his death, Jones' father was police chief of Prentiss, Mississippi, where the shooting took place. It's probably also worth mentioning that the jury who convicted Maye was white.

The facts are also riveting: A no-knock search warrant executed on a duplex -- a drug dealer lived on one side and Maye on the other.

Update: South Central LA hopes for clemency.

Update: At HuffPo, Bianca Jagger writes about her meeting with Tookie Williams last week and why Gov. Schwarzenegger should give him clemency. No decision yet.

Los Angeles leaders are pleading for calm if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger decides against clemency for Stanley "Tookie" Williams. The Governor could decide as early as tonight. LA media outlets are preparing for an announcement this evening.

Cheers for California Assemblyman Joe Nation (D-San Rafael) who urged Arnold to grant clemency.

"The upcoming execution offers the state of California an opportunity to take an internationally recognized leadership role by calling for a moratorium on the death penalty," Nation wrote in a letter to Schwarzenegger sent Thursday. "It is a bold step that is fiscally responsible, judicially prudent and morally right."

I've got miles to go before I blog...here's a space for you.

by TChris

TalkLeft has frequently written about Wilton Dedge, who spent 22 years in Florida prisons for a rape he didn't commit. The Florida legislature finally did the right thing by passing a bill that awards Dedge $2 million as compensation for his mistaken incarceration.

by TChris

The president of the San Francisco Police Officers Association explains that videos made for a police Christmas party were intended as “comic relief.”

The videos include scenes of uniformed and plainclothes officers mocking the homeless, women, Asians, African-Americans and gay men. In one segment, a mock scene has a black woman yelling after apparently having been hit by a patrol car.

The association president is “absolutely certain that none of the officers involved participated in the making of these comic parodies with the intent to disparage any individual or group.” Huh?

I'm told that Gov. Schwarzenegger will release his decision on clemency for Stanley "Tookie" Williams tomorrow between 6:30 and 7:30 pm, Pacific Time. I'll be discussing it on KABC Los Angeles radio, with host Al Rankel at 7:00pm PT. You can listen online here.

The LA Times reports:

His attorneys are expected to file a motion with the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, perhaps today, seeking permission to file a new habeas corpus petition in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

At San Quentin on Thursday, officials began altering Williams' conditions in preparation for the possible execution, exchanging his clothes for sweats and shackling him and bolting him to a chair during his visits. Guards also removed most personal possessions from his cell, and will allow him only one item at a time — whether it's a toothbrush, a book or anything else — until the execution, corrections officials said.

Prison officials say this is their standard procedure for the period beginning five days before an execution.

The Judge in the Tom DeLay case dealt another setback to DeLay's attempt to get an early trial date, making it more and more unlikely he will be able to reclaim his House leadership position.

In a letter to DeLay's attorneys Wednesday, Senior Judge Pat Priest said he'll be working on other cases and won't be available until Dec. 27 to take up pending motions in DeLay's case stemming from a 2002 campaign finance scheme.

Australian Mamdouh Habib was seized in Pakistan in 2001 and during the next four years, shuttled between Egypt, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay. He was released in January, 2005. He claimed then he was tortured while in Egypt, and sued the U.S. in federal court to block it from sending him back to Egypt. He reiterated his claims of torture to the BBC today.

Mr Habib told the BBC's World Service that, after his "kidnap" in Pakistan in 2001, he was moved between Egypt, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay until his release at the beginning of 2005. He says he does not know who was holding him, but "I saw Americans.. Australians.. Pakistanis.. and Egyptians.... I was beaten, electric shock... no sleep, injections, brainwashed - unbelievable stuff," he said."

The New York Times reported in February: