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Col. Will Gunn, appointed to be chief defense counsel over future military tribunals, says he disagrees with some of the rules.

"It's critical that these trials be done right. It's critical that we hold true to fundamental American values," Gunn said in an interview with Reuters late on Friday. "As chief defense counsel, I have one fundamental goal: and that is responsibly to provide for zealous defense of any individuals who are brought before military commissions," the Harvard Law School graduate added.

What rules would Gunn have made differently?

Gunn singled out language permitting the Defense Department to monitor any conversations or communications between defense lawyers and defendants, which some critics have called a breach of customary attorney-client privilege.

"For instance, I would make it clear that no conversation between the defense counsel and a client can be monitored unless the government had a particularized reason for doing so ... a reason that can be clearly articulated," Gunn said.

Gunn also would have made for a fairer appeals system.

Gunn said the appeals process would be different if he had designed it. The rules do not allow for an independent judicial review of convictions or sentences. Appeals go to a military panel appointed by the Pentagon, and final review of convictions or sentences is made by Bush himself. Gunn said the traditional U.S. military justice system allows for some appeals to be heard by a civilian court.

Gunn won't be trying the cases but adminstering the system from the defense side. About ten lawyers have applied, but "no names that you would recognize."

He will assign each defendant a military defense lawyer. Defendants also have the right to hire a civilian lawyer who is a U.S. citizen, is deemed eligible to hear classified information, and agrees to conditions set by the Pentagon such as the monitoring of conversations.

After 9/11, Bush pleaded with citizens to participate in public service. He promised funds for Americorps programs. Now he's renegged, and the programs are on the brink of closure from lack of funds.

Bush and Congress need to pass a $200 million supplemental budget to restore AmeriCorps funding to 2002 levels....Members of AmeriCorps provide valuable — even critical — services to our schools and neighborhoods. AmeriCorps members mentor children in at-risk schools, build homes for the poor and clean up blighted areas of communities across America.

E.J. Dionne's commentary on Americorps in the Washington Post, available here tells the story of the cuts--and the enormous support for the program.

The Migration Policy Institute, a non-partisan think tank, has issued a 165 page report that concludes the Bush Administration's Post-9/11 immigrant roundup backfired. The report is available here.

Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson is number two at the Justice Department under Ashcroft. As much as we've bashed Ashcroft at TalkLeft over the past year, we've never bashed Larry--you can read our early endorsement of him here.

So it is with great appreciation that we bring you news of his speech to the 9th Circuit judges today in Hawaii at the judge's judicial conference. He did everything but issue an apology for the ill-conceived Feeney Amendment which was tacked onto the Amber Alert bill and which reduced judicial discretion in sentencing to a practical nullity.

Deputy U.S. Attorney General Larry Thompson stopped just short of apologizing to federal judges from the Western states for the Bush administration's behind-the-scenes sponsorship of the controversial Feeney Amendment.

"I know the process was viewed as something less than aboveboard," the No. 2 man in the U.S. Justice Department said to several hundred judges and attorneys meeting on Kauai at the annual conference of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

"We will not have a situation again where you, the judiciary, feel we have been less than open in our dealings," Thompson added.

Mr. Thompson has been mentioned as a possible replacement to retiring Supreme Court justices. That too would be okay in our book. He has been a defense attorney as well as a prosecutor. He understands constitutional rights, due process and fundamental fairness. He's certainly not a liberal, but he's as fair and honest as they get. Which is more than we can say for his boss and the Administration as a whole.

San Francisco has dropped criminal charges against all but about 20 of the 407 war protesters .

....The decision was based largely on the difficulty in prosecuting individuals in what were essentially mass arrests. [Asst. District Attorney Messini] said the Police Department had indicated that it could not "establish the facts necessary to convict any of these individuals" because the arrest reports were too general.

"Identifying individual acts of the protesters arrested was continuing to be very problematic," Mr. Menesini said. "As a consequence, the district attorney felt it was in the interest of justice to just bite the bullet and stand up and do what was right. That is always difficult."

A jury sentenced Chante Mallard to 50 years in the death of a man impaled in her windshield.

How symmetrical. Now, instead of losing one life, we lose two.

Our congratulations to Howard Dean for winning the internet Democratic primary held on MoveOn.Org. Dr. Dean came in with 44% of the votes. Dennis Kucinich followed with 24%.

If only all states had this much sense....

Delaware has passed a bill that reduces the mandatory minimum sentences in some drug crimes in order to make more room for violent offenders. After passing in the Delaware House, the bill passed the Senate by a vote of 20 to 1.

The bill is a compromise among the Attorney General's Office, the state's Sentencing Accountability Commission and Stand Up for What's Right and Just, a citizens group dedicated to criminal justice reform.

Among the bill's most controversial provisions in the Senate was language that cuts the minimum mandatory sentence for cocaine trafficking from three years to two years, and increasing the amount of the drug needed to trigger the sentence from 5 grams to 10 grams.

Jacob Sullem of Reason has written " Know Thy Enemy Combatant." Nat Hentoff's new Village Voice column is up, Is the Attorney General Fit for Office?

We recommend both.

Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) has introduced H.R. 2585, which has been referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. The caption of the bill reads:

A bill to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to permit certain long-term permanent resident aliens to seek cancellation of removal under such Act, and for other purposes.

What a welcome idea. We'll report more when we've had a chance to read the whole thing. For information, go to Thomas, the federal legislation server.

Our hosting company's server will be brought down at approx. 3:00 PM CST and is expected back up no later than 3:20 PM CST today due to an upgrade which should make Talkleft load faster. We will be unavailable for about 10-15 minutes (we are prepared for 30 minutes.)