gonzales
NSA Hearing Scope Too Narrow?
Orin Kerr picks up on something that’s been nagging at me today as I listened to the judicial committee hearings. There is a lot more going on than the particular program that seemed to be the focus of today’s hearings:
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the AG’s testimony is his suggestion, made at various places, that there are other classified telecommunications surveillance programs beyond FISA and the NSA program.
If these focus at all on domestic surveillance without warrants then they need to be brought out into the light of day.
Oh yea, wasn’t gonzalez adept at saying nothing! But did anyone expect anything different?
Guantonamo Prisoner’s Rights II
Bryan, in a comment to this post notes:
I was in law enforcement and part of our public liability training dealt with section 242 of Title 18 of the US Code which gives non-citizens the same rights as citizens in the area of criminal law.
On his blog, he links to the relevant sections of the US Code including Title 18, Part I, Chapter 113C, � 2340A – Torture which says:
a) Offense.� Whoever outside the United States commits or attempts to commit torture shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both, and if death results to any person from conduct prohibited by this subsection, shall be punished by death or imprisoned for any term of years or for life.
(b) Jurisdiction.� There is jurisdiction over the activity prohibited in subsection (a) if�
(1) the alleged offender is a national of the United States; or
(2) the alleged offender is present in the United States, irrespective of the nationality of the victim or alleged offender.
(c) Conspiracy.� A person who conspires to commit an offense under this section shall be subject to the same penalties (other than the penalty of death) as the penalties prescribed for the offense, the commission of which was the object of the conspiracy.
I suspect the gonzales will not be upholding his obligation as attorney general to uphold the laws of the United States.
Oh, I suppose, though, that like his predecessor he will wastefully allocate plenty of resources to activities occurring between consenting adults.