Analysis & Commentary
Justice
Table of State and City Minimum Wages
– 06/27/07
Cheney and the Constitution
If it weren’t so frightening, the irony would be delicious: A Vice President who has done more than any other to push the envelope on executive privilege at the expense of the courts and Congress takes the position that his office has both legislative and executive functions so as to avoid accounting for the use of classified materials.
Authored by: Aziz Huq
– 06/26/07
Torture? Uh Uh, Not Us
In September 2005, Captain Ian Fishback of the 82nd Airborne Division wrote to Senator John McCain complaining of the rampant prisoner abuse he had seen in Iraq. “Do we sacrifice our ideals in order to preserve security?” asked Fishback. He gave a simple answer: “‘I would rather die fighting than give up even the smallest part of the idea that is ‘America.’” Fishback is not alone in seeking to defend “the idea that is ‘America.’” Other courageous members of the armed forces, such Albert Mora and Charlie Swift have fought for the rule-of-law-often at great personal cost. As we enter the longest presidential campaign season perhaps ever, the need to ask whether their efforts have been in vain must be asked with increasing intensity.
Authored by: Aziz Huq
– 06/13/07
Bush’s Plan to Erode Our Liberties
Early this week, judge advocates halted two prosecutions in the Guantánamo military commissions established under the 2006 Military Commissions Act (MCA). This is not the first setback the Administration’s second-tier court system has hit; the Supreme Court invalidated an earlier iteration of the commissions in 2006. And it won’t be the last. But while this week’s setback likely will be speedily surmounted, it casts an unexpected light on the MCA’s real purposes, and what’s at stake when the Bush Administration plays politics with national security.
Authored by: Aziz Huq
– 06/08/07
The Fight for the Minimum Wage
Authored by: Paul Sonn
– 06/04/07
The Adequacy of New Jersey’s Minimum Wage
Policy Brief by the Brennan Center and Allies on the need to raise New Jersey’s minimum wage and annually adjust it for inflation.
Authored by: Paul Sonn
– 05/18/07
The Ghost of George Kennan
Some ideas, like some gunshots, can be heard around the world, and down the centuries. On the night of February 22, 1946, a young U.S. diplomat named George Kennan, then based in Moscow, sent a famous telegram outlining what he saw as a gathering conflict with the Soviet Union. In embryonic form, that telegram prefigured a strategy Kennan would later term “containment”: a “long-term, patient but firm and vigilant” resistance to Soviet expansion.
Authored by: Aziz Huq
– 05/15/07
Habeas Corpus Evaporating
Six months after Congress enacted the Military Commissions Act of 2006 with its eyes firmly on the polls, there have been many promises and proposals from legislators about how to remedy the damage done to civil liberties by that law-but little action. Despite the powerful advocacy of former military officials, religious figures, and law enforcement officials, Congress has as of yet failed to fix a single one of the MCA’s many flaws.
Authored by: Aziz Huq
– 05/14/07
Foolish Deference
Talk of emergencies and their consequences has been thick in the air since 9/11. The Bush administration insists that the current fight against terrorism—a situation it has an interest in depicting as a continuous crisis—requires the courts and Congress to take a back seat. But the White House’s claims of omnicompetence starkly conflict with mounting evidence of negligence and malfeasance. From the stacks of cash gone astray in Iraq to the embarrassing criminal proceeding against CIA agents in Germany for the erroneous “rendition” of an innocent man, the news for mavens of centralized executive authority is hardly comforting.
Authored by: Aziz Huq
– 05/09/07
Responsible Restaurant Act Fact Sheet
Fact sheet explaining the Responsible Restaurant Act, a bill proposed in the New York City Council.
– 05/07/07