From the Law Office of H. Candace Gorman
I joined with several attorneys to write a letter to Biden about Guantanamo last week and I hope next week to have a link to that letter. But a group of former detainees joined together to write their own letter.
(h/o to Walt)
President Bush opened it. President Obama promised to close it, but failed to do so. President Trump promised to keep it open. Now, it is your turn to decide.
Read the rest here
offering a glimpse of hope to the men at Guantanamo we have learned this today:
February: Restoring
America’s Place in the World
Biden will sign an EO to
direct agencies to “recruit and retain employees to confront
21st Century challenges, including through reskilling, professional
development, and possible reserve corps to fill mission-critical gaps” … He
will sign a “forever wars'' executive order, which will initiate a “review of
CT operations and options to [responsibly] reduce such operations;
reinstates transparency measures on civilian casualties; reinstates the policy
of closing GITMO; initiates a process to migrate substantial use of force
operations to Title 10” … He will sign a memorandum to strengthen U.S. efforts
to promote human rights of LGBTQ people overseas … He’ll hold an NSC meeting at
the State Department.
I guess his criminal and failed presidentcy would not be complete unless he could do one last thing. So the pentagon has now blocked a rule that would have allowed an independent medical exam of one of the men tortured and held at Guantanamo. Read the rest here and h/o to Walt for sharing the link.
As America prepares to inaugurate a lawyer president, it's time to reflect on the 32 lawyers - all men - among the shameful cohort of 126 House Republicans who supported the Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (under indictment himself) in his failed attempt to overthrow the election in the supreme court.
The AGs of the four defendant states, all with Republican legislatures, forcefully responded to the disgraceful supreme court litigation brought by the attorneys general in 18 other Republican states.
Above the Law catalogued the craziest things in the Texas AG's nutty lawsuit, where even fake states filed a brief. All the motions from 26 other parties were dismissed as moot when the Texas motion was denied. The Post identified the various villains who pleaded.
Ultimately, nearly 90 judges rejected the claims of election fraud brought by Trump and his followers. Nevertheless, the litigation strategies and public statements of Trump's lawyers exposed the collateral damage his refusal to acknowledge the rule of law has caused to the legal profession itself.
In many of the federal cases (certainly, the supreme court stunt), Republican lawyers may have violated Rule 11, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. That's the rule that forbids frivolous proceedings and requires attorneys to shun litigation without legal foundation or valid evidence.
The fact that the chief legal officers of 18 states were prepared to risk violating Rule 11 is a professional scandal. Sanctions and even disbarment should be an option.
Civilian lawyers behind the Republicans' spurious and bad-faith court actions in multiple jurisdictions should also face disciplinary action. One such action was a last-hour lawsuit against the Vice President in his capacity of Senate President.
Gohmert: among the dimmest of Republican representatives
It was brought by Representative Louis Gohmert, who's often described as "the most offensive and ignorant person in congress". The case was speedily dismissed by a Trump-appointed judge.
Finally, Trump voters in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, and Arizona sued Vice President Pence; both houses of Congress; and even the Electoral College itself, seeking to preliminarily enjoin the counting of electors certified by their states. Their motion was denied in scathing terms by the DC judge, who added:
"… at the conclusion of this litigation, the Court will determine whether to issue an order to show cause why this matter should not be referred to its Committee on Grievances for potential discipline of Plaintiffs' counsel."
READ THE REST OF FITCH HERE.
Well I received two separate inquiries about what is going on at Guantanamo right now so I am providing these links which in turn were sent to me by CCR. So h/o to CCR for collecting all of these:
Amnesty International issued a report, Right the Wrong, Decision Time on Guantanamo. They also launched a global petition;
Al Jazeera English: Al-Qahtani must be released and Guantanamo closed
Al Jazeera English: Will
Joe Biden close Guantanamo Bay?
Common Dreams: As
'Dark Stain' of Guantánamo Begins 20th Year, Groups Demand Biden Close Offshore
Prison
Newsweek: Biden
Must Succeed Where Obama Failed, and Finally Close Guantanamo | Opinion (Mohamedou
Slahi)
Open Society Foundations: Torture’s
Terrible Toll
Just Security: On
Guantanamo’s 19th Anniversary, A Renewed Call to Close It
UN News: Close ‘disgraceful’ Guantánamo camp – UN experts urge incoming US administration
I always try to check in with the dog on this occasion. He does not disappoint...
Click here for his latest.
As the 19th year of captivity for my client, Razak Ali, ends and he begins his 20th year I am looking at the events of these last few years with a new sense of outrage. Our criminal president has pardoned war criminals and yet we have held men (like Ali) for over 19 years without any charge ever being filed against them. Today 40 remain at our gulag. What has happened in my country did not just occur in these last four years -- although these last four years have definitely excelerated our fall.
I have been preparing a post on how we have treated our war criminals compared to our duty under international law (not to mention our own domestic law) and how other countries (namely Australia) have treated their war criminals. I have been distracted by certain events but I will get back to that post.
Meanwhile remember today - we started our republic's death march on this day in 2002.
So, once again I find myself up in the U.S. Supreme Court with my client's case. Here is the link to our latest attempt at justice for Mr. Razak Ali.
Monday January 11th is the day. Here are some activities you can join in - either in person or by zoom:
Rights or Rightlessness?
The Lives of Men Imprisoned at Guantánamo
Monday, January 11, 5:00–6:30 p.m. EST
Guantánamo, extreme as it is, can and must be situated in a broader history
of U.S. detention camps and harms of the carceral state. What lessons can we
learn from Japanese-American camps during WWII, the detention of Haitian
refugees at Guantánamo in the 1990s, and the last 19 years of the military
prison itself, to work towards the closure of the prison?
Speakers include:
Mohamedou Ould Slahi,
a Guantánamo Bay prison survivor and author of the best-selling book, Guantánamo Diary (2015)
Baher Azmy,
Center for Constitutional Rights Legal Director
Dr. A. Naomi Paik,
Associate professor of Asian American studies at the University of Illinois,
Urbana-Champaign and author of Rightlessness:
Testimony and Redress in U.S. Prison Camps since World War II (2016)
The conversation will be moderated by Justice for Muslims Collective
Co-Founder and Co-Director Dr. Maha Hilal
and Center for Constitutional Rights Advocacy Program Manager Aliya Hussain.
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