In motions unsealed today, accused "shoe bomber" Richard Reid told authorities during his interrogations that he was acting alone. In the Indictment against him filed last December, prosecutors alleged Reid had been trained at an Al Qaeda camp in Afganistan (Count II).

Reid maintains he was angry at Jews and wanted to take it out on the U.S. because of its support for Israel.

From Eric Alterman's Altercation today:

"Things to remember about George Bush’s presidency as we go into the 2000 election: “The Dow Jones Industrial Average has declined by nearly 2000 points since he took office; unemployment has risen to 5.7% from 4.2%. In the six quarters of the Bush presidency, growth of gross domestic product has averaged 1.1%, down from 3.6% in the last six quarters of the Clinton presidency. In the Journal/NBC poll, only 38% of Americans believe the country is safer than a year ago.” The Wall Street Journal, September 10, 2002"

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Great profile of Univ of Tennessee Law Professor Glenn Reynolds, known to us in the blogistan as Instapundit in today's American Lawyer.

One law professor opined that while the law school is glad for the attention he brings, his views are a little too "anti-p.c." and libertarian for their comfort.

Gee, we wonder what they'd make of us!

The Santa Cruz City Council, in a deliberate message of protest to the DEA, will pass out medical marijuana at City Hall.

"City leaders plan to join medical marijuana users at a pot giveaway at City Hall next week. Their goal is to send a message to federal authorities that, in this town, medical marijuana is welcome. "

"The invitation comes one week after agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency arrested the high-profile owners of a pot farm and confiscated 130 plants that had been grown to be used as medicine."

Crime is traditionally a local matter. While the feds and the states both have jurisdiction over drug crimes, it's just plain wrong for the feds to try to trump the will of the state legislature and the citizens of California on the issue of medical marijuana.

The DEA should turn a blind eye or get out of Dodge.

We have been reporting that a RAVE Act protest would be happening on Sept. 6 at the Capitol. Many have asked us for a recap of the protest and what happened. Here's what we could find:

"About 400 opponents of a bill in Congress to equate some raves with crack houses danced to DJ-spun tunes during a protest this afternoon at the Federal Building in Westwood, police said. "

"No arrests were made, said Los Angeles police Sgt. D. Koeh of the West Los Angeles Station. "Freedom to Dance" organizers hoped to raise young voters' ire against the Reducing Americans' Vulnerability to Ecstasy, or RAVE, Act sponsored by Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., D-Del."

"The bill could face a final vote in a few weeks."

"Young people in oversized pants danced to the sounds of DJs Doc Martin, Colette and Garth Trinidad of KCRW. Some in the crowd carried signs that read, 'Say Yes To Freedom.' "

"Similar demonstrations were held in New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C. "

"The RAVE Act, which would modify a 1986 law making it a federal crime to knowingly house or rent residences to drug dealers, would expand the definition of a crack house to include raves and "one-off" music events."

"The law aims to discourage rising ecstasy use and would subject convicted party organizers to $250,000 fines and up to 20 years in prison."

"Some in the Los Angeles dance scene, however, fear the bill will discourage music events more than drug use. They say it could put a dark cloud over the budding multimillion-dollar dance music industry, much of it based locally."

"They're targeting electronic music as a genre and that's hurting me because that's my kind of music," demonstrator Eric Moreno told ABC7. "

"The bill "sounds good on the outside," Megan McDonald to the station. "You're going to stop drug use. But it's not going to stop any drug use. It's just going to start attacking parties."

This is a bill that deserves to be soundly defeated. We will help you track it to Election day, and your local organizations can tell you how best to lobby against it.

Sorry, but we've lost the source for that whole quote. We will try to find it this evening and edit the post to include it. If any of you come across it, please put it in the comments section.

A New York Times editorial today explains why the FISA appeals court ruling on the powers of the Justice Department with respect to electronic surveillance and searches should be public in Justice in the Shadows.

"Members of the Senate, including the Judiciary Committee chairman, Patrick Leahy, have asked the court to release the arguments made by the Justice Department, and any decision it reaches."

"These documents can be abridged, so no sensitive information is compromised, but they must be released. And in the future the court should hold arguments in the open, and invite other interested parties to participate."

"Democracy, a federal appeals court in Ohio noted last month, dies behind closed doors. The federal judiciary will have forgotten this important principle if it meets with its own doors closed."

Law Professor Anita Ramasastry argues for an alternative to unilateral war with Iraq. She says that U.N. sponsored coercive inspections rather than war are the solutions that President Bush should propose when he speaks to the U.N. tomorrow.

Online Journal Contributing Editor Carla Bin tells us that the Boston Globe is one of the first mainstream papers to tell the truth about the real Bush motives for war.

According to the article, the real agenda of the Bush administration is reshaping the Middle East. Iraq is "merely a first step." Once Hussein is gone, the U.S. will have "more leverage to act against Syria and Iran." Oil and domination of the region, not a threat from Suddam Hussein, are the Administration's primary concerns.

Also check out Carla's article, The Masters of War and the Human Factor, a historical perspective on how the United States wages war.

Esteemed San Francisco criminal defense lawyer and past NACDL President Ephraim Margolin writes in his San Francisco Chronicle commentary, Due Process Under Fire / Security or freedom?:

"We gave the president the benefit of the doubt, hoping that his vision would prevail. We imagined that the wise people around Bush would soften his occasionally harsh rhetoric and seek a national consensus. We thought that Bush would grow with his job. "

"But then we got John Ashcroft. The more we rallied around the president, the harsher the attorney general became. While our attention remained focused on the war on terrorism, the Bill of Rights was increasingly short-changed into a Bill of Rules, exempting only the right to carry guns. All branches of government coalesced behind the president, and the country went on a war footing. "

"Though we can still support Bush in the war on terrorism, the America we love can win that war only if in the process we do not lose our liberties, our openness and our governmental accountability. We need to remember that in fighting for freedom, we should not sacrifice it blindly ourselves."

UPI reports that Tuesday's primaries beefed up the Senate's thin GOP line.

"Voters in North Carolina and New Hampshire selected Elizabeth Dole and John Sununu, well-known names in Republican politics, to defend the Senate seats now held by GOP conservatives. Voters in Minnesota chose St. Paul Mayor Ron Coleman to challenge Democratic incumbent Paul Wellstone."

"The Democrats now hold the Senate by a single seat, which has denied the Bush administration some high-profile victories and could complicate the White House's efforts to build a consensus on the Hill for possible U.S. actions against Iraq. Tuesday's three GOP winners, however, were favored by the administration and could add three welcome allies to the Senate."

Your Democratic candidates need you. We don't want to lose the edge in Congress. Call them and see how you can help. Obviously they all need money, but they can also use your time. So, give whichever you can.

What a day to have a birthday. Not fun, we bet. Both DailyKos and MadKane begin another year of life today, we hope you'll go over and extend good wishes. Here are the places to do it: DailyKos birthday post and MadKane birthday post.

As for us, we're heading over to the law school to teach criminal defense like we do every Wednesday night....last Sept. 12 we tossed the syllabus and talked about the events of the day before. It was a great class. I suspect we will do the same tonight--"Motions to Suppress" will have to wait until next week--Civil Liberties, Right to Counsel and the Patriot Act will take center stage tonight.

Here's the new Village Voice article, Guilty Until Proven Innocent, with many more details on the Central Park Jogger case and the five youths who did the time but didn't do the crime.

Received through a criminal defense lawyers' listserv today, a quote worth remembering from the recent opinion in Center For Nat. Security Studies v. U.S. Dept. of Justice, 2002 WL 1773067 D.D.C.,2002. Aug. 2, 2002:

"Difficult times such as these have always tested our fidelity to the core democratic values of openness, government accountability, and the rule of law.

The Court fully understands and appreciates that the first priority of the executive branch in a time of crisis is to ensure the physical security of its citizens. By the same token, the first priority of the judicial branch must be to ensure that our Government always operates within the statutory and constitutional constraints which distinguish a democracy from a dictatorship."