The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has issued a decision on what constitutes internet libel under the 1996 Communications Decency Act.:

In a case where a "tipster" sent information about an alleged Nazi heir with old European paintings to the operator of a Web site that tracks art thefts, the divided three-judge panel found that site operators may be liable for Internet libel if they post information that a reasonable person would have known wasn't meant for publication.

A State Department expert on weapons testified before congressional committees last week that the Bush Administration pressured him to distort some evidence in his analysis of the Iraq situation.

A top State Department expert on chemical and biological weapons told Congressional committees in closed-door hearings last week that he had been pressed to tailor his analysis on Iraq and other matters to conform with the Bush administration's views, several Congressional officials said today.

The officials described what they said was a dramatic moment at a House Intelligence Committee hearing last week when the weapons expert came forward to tell Congress he had felt such pressure. By speaking out, they said, the senior intelligence expert, identified by several officials as Christian Westermann, became the first member of the intelligence community on active service to make this sort of admission to members of Congress.

Remember Bush's State of the Union speech in which he promised huge dollars for drug treatment -- provided by religious groups? Or his "faith-based" initiative in 2000 that mercifully died? Well, he's not giving up. But he's delusional if he thinks his new plan will get through Congress.

Bush is trying to get Congress to exempt religious groups from adhering to anti-discrimination laws on hiring policies. In other words, he is seeking to allow religious groups to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation and religion when hiring.

A White House position paper sent to Capitol Hill argues that "religious hiring rights" are part of religious organizations' civil rights. "When they receive federal funds, they should retain their right to hire those individuals who are best able to further their organizations' goals and mission," the document says.

In a letter to MoveOn.org, Senator and Presidential hopeful John Kerry says that the Supreme Court is a major reason the Democrats need to take the White House away from Bush.

I am prepared to filibuster, if necessary, any Supreme Court nominee who would turn back the clock on a woman’s right to choose, on civil rights and individual liberties, and on the laws protecting workers and the environment.

Kerry has prepared a petition which he promises to deliver to Tom Daschle, Senate Democratic Leader and Patrick Leahy, ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, as well as their Republican counterparts

The criteria are basic: Any person who thinks it’s his or her job to push an extreme political agenda, rather than to interpret the law, should not be a Supreme Court Justice. Any person who thinks it’s his or her job to carry out the President’s political agenda, rather than to provide justice to ordinary Americans, should not be a Supreme Court Justice.

Reuters is reporting that Saddam Hussein's Information Minister, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, better known as "Comical Ali", has been captured at a roadblock in a Baghdad suburb. Washington has not confirmed this and no sources for the report are provided.

After a nine week trial and ten days of deliberations, three former federal prison guards at Colorado's maximum security federal prison in Florence, Colorado have been convicted of inmate beatings. Four were acquitted.

The guards were known as "The Cowboys."

The seven guards were charged with organizing attacks on inmates...Some were accused of kicking shackled prisoners, smashing their heads into walls and mixing human waste into their food. Three other guards previously pleaded guilty in the case....Prosecutors said the defendants fabricated records and other evidence in a cover-up and pressured fellow officers to keep quiet.

52 acts of abuse against 20 or more inmates were included in the Indictment. The convicted guards face up to ten years in prison on each count.

Update: The convicted guards have been sentenced to three plus years in federal prison.

Calpundit says now that the 20th century is over, we should be able to figure out which trial really was the "Trial of the Century." He suggests a few, and asks for more suggestions.

For anyone who hasn't viewed law professor Doug Linder's site, Famous Trials , we highly recommend you do and scroll through those in the 20th Century. Open one or two of the trials and we think you'll see what a treasure trove Linder has put together.

There's some more fallout from the Chinese "espionage" case involving accused double agent Katrina Leung and her FBI handler-lover David Smith. The FBI has removed Daniel Sayner as the head of the Los Angeles Counterintelligence office and put him back on street duty. Sayner was offered a lateral transfer which he turned down, preferring street duty.

We can't vouch for the accuracy of this information, but Bob Harris has a chart contrasting Howard Dean's and Dennic Kucinich's positions on issues. He lists his sources as the candidates' own websites and searching via Google. He offers to make any corrections, so if you know of any, let him know.

As to crime, Harris reports that Dean opposes all use of medical marijuana. We didn't know that. Kucinich supports "compassionate use." Harris says Dean supports more federal funding for all aspects of the drug war.

We did know that Dean favors the death penalty for "extreme" crimes like terrorism or the killing of a police officer, although he is critical of Bush administration's "careless" approach to executions. We'd add that Dean has promised to direct his Attorney General to study the death penalty and any need for a moratorium to protect the innocent the day he takes office. Kucinich opposes the death penalty.

On the Patriot Act, Harris says Dean would repeal parts of it, but he also wants to expand intelligence agencies. Dean has praised Russ Feingold as the only Senator who opposed the act. Harris points out Kucinich voted against the Patriot Act.

Harris says,

Finally, Dean is basically a good guy, and if he's nominated I'll vote for him in a heartbeat. It's just that it's simply not accurate to refer to him as a progressive candidate. I'm also not saying that Kucinich's positions are the "right" ones on every issue; I just personally agree with him on most of them, and I think other progressives will, too.

If nominated, we'll support Dean as well. We think his criminal justice positions could use a progressive jolt, and since those are our primary concern, we're holding off declaring a favorite candidate at this point. But if anyone from his campaign is reading, we recommend going here to print out the Legislative Priorities and views on criminal justice issues of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and putting them in Mr. Dean's briefcase.

Update: Ezra Klein writes in the following correction to Harris's chart:

Dean's position on medical marijuana is neither for nor against, his stated position is that we have processes set up to evaluate the worth of new drugs, they should not be brought in a political decision. Dean would send medical marijuana to the FDA and abide by whatever they said.

Don't forget to vote today over at MoveOn.org for your favorite Democratic Contender for the White House. 1.4 million are expected to vote and Howard Dean is expected to win. Registration is now closed, so this is just a reminder for those who did register or who are MoveOn members.

While we have not yet committed to a Democratic favorite, we are very impressed with Howard Dean's weblog have added it to our blogroll.

The latest Washington Post/ABC News poll finds more Americans think the number of casualties in the Iraq war are unacceptable:

"Again thinking about the goals versus the costs of the war, so far in your opinion has there been an acceptable or unacceptable number of U.S. military casualties in Iraq?"

Acceptable: 51 compared with 66 in April
Unacceptable: 44% compared with 28 % in April

George Paine at Warblogging.com minces no words about the Administration's announcement yesterday that Qatari native Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri has become the third person to be declared an enemy combatant: Paine calls it a perversion of justice and explains the case in detail.

Our post yesterday criticizing the designation is here.