Sen. Russ Feingold has introduced a bill in Congress to end the end sneak and peek searches authorized by the Patriot Act:

Section 213 of the USA-PATRIOT Act, the provision of that important statute passed in the wake of the 9/11 attacks that has caused perhaps the most concern among Members of Congress and the public. Section 213, sometimes referred to as the ``delayed notice search provision'' or the ``sneak and peek provision,'' authorizes the government in limited circumstances to conduct a search without immediately serving a search warrant on the owner or occupant of the premises that have been searched.

What's wrong with sneak and peeks?

Janeane Garofolo and Sam Sedar of Majority Report and Air America Radio are blogging from Aspen and the HBO US Arts Comedy Festival over at ThinkProgress.

Eric Alterman is there too. From Altercation today:

I am staying in the St. Regis in Aspen for the HBO Festival of Comedy Arts, where I will be appearing on a Center for American Progress panel on punditry with Joe Scarborough, Joe Lockhart, Laura Ingraham, and Jeanine Garafolo on Saturday morning. I will also be doing a signing of When Presidents Lie and What Liberal Media at the Explorer Bookstore at noon on Saturday. It’s a really great place to be, even if you don’t bother with the slopes. ...

This is the act of a supportive father?

CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- Zachary Crank, the 16-year-old son of Wyoming Attorney General Pat Crank, was ordered to perform community service after pleading guilty to possession of marijuana.

The younger Crank pleaded guilty Thursday in Laramie County Circuit Court, where he was sentenced as an adult. Crank was ordered to pay court costs and submit to random drug testing on top of his community service. If he completes those tasks and stays out of trouble for the next year, his record will be expunged.

Attorney General Crank said he turned his son in after learning about the marijuana. Zachary Crank was cited at the family's home.

"Kids make mistakes," Attorney General Crank said. "My son has owned up to his mistake, and we're supportive of him." (emphasis supplied)

With a father like that, I wouldn't be surprised if the kid ends up with a major case of distrust and hatred for authority.

Sidebar: Before becoming state Attorney General, Crank was a federal prosecutor in Wyoming. He sent a lot of people away for long periods for drug offenses. Isn't it interesting that when his kid breaks the law, it's a "mistake" rather than a crime?

by TChris

Mandatory minimum sentences have many critics, ranging from Justice Kennedy on the Supreme Court to organizations like Families Against Mandatory Minimums. Even the Wall Street Journal has editorially condemned mandatory minimums. Examples of unfair mandatory sentences (including this one) abound.

Congress nonetheless continues to consider the addition of new mandatory minimums to federal sentencing law. Jack Moseley, writing for the Arkansas News Bureau, explains why Congress should focus its efforts on the creation of drug courts that divert drug users from the criminal justice system, rather than sentencing laws that promote the seemingly endless growth of our prison population:

Prison turns first-time drug offenders into hardened criminals. Drug courts return most to productive lives in society. It's just that simple. So what is it that Congress doesn't get, even when the most conservative judges tell them they are wasting taxpayer money and destroying lives while doing untold damage to respect for law and order in this nation?

It's time to stop this insanity. Bobby Kennedy was right: Yes, life sometimes is unfair; that should not keep us from trying to make it more fair. Every case should be judged on the evidence, the circumstances and other factors that any judge should have the right and obligation to consider - not by the one-size-fits-all laws enacted by uninformed and apparently blind and mindless lawmakers.

by TChris

Lynne Stewart had some inspiring words for lawyers (and for the general public) following the government's outrageous prosecution and the jury's disappointing verdict. TalkLeft reported some of her comments here. The full transcript of her interview (and of the remarks of her lawyer, Michael Tigar) is available here. A brief excerpt from Stewart's comments:

I'm still very shook up and surprised and disappointed that the jury didn't see what we saw. But I think, as one my counsel put it, when you put Osama bin Laden in a courtroom and ask the jury to ignore it, that’s asking a lot. We are not giving up, obviously. We are going to fight on. This is the beginning of a longer struggle. I think everyone who has a sense that the United States needs to protect the Constitution at this time understands that struggle. And this case could be, I hope it will be, a wakeup call to all of the citizens of this country and all of the people who live here that you can't lock up the lawyers. You can't tell the lawyers how to do their job. You've got to let them operate. And I will fight on. I'm not giving up. I know I committed no crime. I know what I did was right.

(Italics added.) The interview also includes some pointed remarks from Ramsey Clark, including this:

It is clear that Lynne Stewart and the truth and the Constitution of the United States are all victims of 9/11 and of a repressive government that is taking advantage of the fear that they have helped create arising from that that is destroying freedom in this country.

Raw Story has the details of Sensenbrenner's Real ID bill that passed the house Thursday.

The bill moves on to the Senate. Here's the contact list, get busy. Oppose this turkey of a bill.

The Washington Post reports a new scandal emerging about Guantanamo Bay. A soon-to-be released military report of investigations into the abuse claims of detainees will confirm that female interrogators sexually humiliated and abused them.

A wide-ranging Pentagon investigation, which has not yet been released, generally confirms the detainees' allegations, according to a senior Defense Department official familiar with the report. While isolated accounts of such tactics have emerged in recent weeks, the new allegations and the findings of the Pentagon investigation indicate that sexually oriented tactics may have been part of the fabric of Guantanamo interrogations, especially in 2003.

The inquiry uncovered numerous instances in which female interrogators, using dye, pretended to spread menstrual blood on Muslim men, the official said. Separately, in court papers and public statements, three detainees say that women smeared them with blood.

It was only a matter of time - get ready for a reality show about Guantanamo where the participants play detainees.

Volunteers on a reality TV show have been subjected to sexual humiliation and physical cruelty in a copy of the Guantanamo Bay military camp. The seven men, including three Muslims, endured painful stress positions, sleep deprivation and extreme temperatures.

Scenes for the programme, The Guantanamo Guidebook, were filmed in a warehouse in East London which had been fitted with cages, interrogation rooms and surveillance equipment. Presented by Jon Snow, it examined how they stood up to 'torture-lite' after being left in the hands of a team of former U.S. military interrogators for 48 hours.

At the beginning, some of the particpants supported the Bush administrations treatment of detainees. That changed, after they were subjected to similar treatment.:

....after being subjected to religious and sexual humiliation and forced nudity, two of them vomited, another soiled himself and one dropped out after seven hours due to the onset of hypothermia.

[link via What Really Happened.]

John Aravosis of America Blog was on CNN's Aaron Brown's Newsight--he did a fabulous job--Crooks and Liars has the video.

The National Lawyers Guild has condemned the verdict in the Lynne Stewart trial and urges defense attorneys to continue representing unpopular clients:

New York. In response to today’s guilty verdict in the Lynne Stewart trial, the National Lawyers Guild condemns the message that the government is sending to defense lawyers who choose to represent
unpopular clients. After deliberating for 13 days, a jury convicted veteran civil rights attorney Stewart, a member of the Guild, on charges of conspiracy, providing material support to terrorists and defrauding the U.S. government. Sentencing is scheduled for July 15. The 65-year-old attorney faces up to 20 years in prison. The jury also convicted Ahmed Abdel Sattar and Arabic interpreter Mohammed Yousry.

Trial for Saddam Hussein and his associates may begin this spring. This is a really interesting article on how it will unfold. Some of the trials will be televised.

One curious note:

But the Western legal expert said Iraqi court procedures, based on civil law, should prevent attempts to turn the proceedings into political theater. First, he said, the defense will be handled by lawyers, and not, as in Mr. Milosevic's case, by the defendant. Beyond that, the wide powers granted to the judges to select witnesses and direct prosecution and defense lawyers, as well as the absence of the adversary system used in American trials, would make the tribunal's hearings "more expeditious" than the tribunal in The Hague.

"You're not going to see a Johnnie Cochrane cross-examining somebody in the manner of the O. J. case," he said.

Update (by TChris): After 13 days of deliberations, the jury found Lynne Stewart guilty of providing material support to terrorists. She will remain free until her sentencing on July 15, but she will not be allowed to leave New York.

Update (TL):

I completely disagree with this verdict. In fact, I'm shocked. And saddened.

More news is here, including this picture of her leaving court after the verdict with her husband.

I think she will get an appeal bond...clearly there are substantial issues of law and fact that would result in a reversal or new trial if decided in her favor. (That's the legal test for getting an appeal bond.)

Also, in light of Booker and FanFan, clearly this is a case calling for non-adherence to the guidelines. The Court can consider them and make a ruling they should not apply in this case.

She vowed to appeal and blamed the conviction on evidence that included videotape of Osama bin Laden urging support for her client. The defense protested the bin Laden evidence, and the judge warned jurors that the case did not involve the events of Sept. 11.

"When you put Osama bin Laden in a courtroom and ask the jury to ignore it, you're asking a lot," she said. "I know I committed no crime. I know what I did was right."

Lawyers have said Stewart most likely would face a sentence of about 20 years on charges that include conspiracy, providing material support to terrorists, defrauding the government and making false statements. She will remain free on bail but must stay in New York until her July 15 sentencing.