Why They Can't Let Obama Win.

[Solomon]

The President now has the power to declare anyone an enemy combatant; throw their asses in Gitmo; deny access to a lawyer; refuse to charge them with anything; torture them; convict them before a 30 minute tribunal; and ...

Just watch the flurry of new legislation clamping down on these powers when Obama is president. All of a sudden, Congress will be powerful again. lol

[Enrique]

1. here's one group that agrees with you

http://habeaslawyersforobama.blogspot.com/

HABEAS LAWYERS SUPPORT OBAMA

January 28, 2008

Dear Friends:

We are at a critical point in the Presidential campaign, and as lawyers who have been deeply involved in the Guantanamo litigation to preserve the important right to habeas corpus, we are writing to urge you to support Senator Obama.

The Administration's Guantanamo policies have undercut our values at home and stained our reputation around the world. All of us are lawyers who have worked on the Guantanamo habeas corpus litigation for many years, some of us since early 2002, and we were all deeply involved in opposing the Administration’s attempt to overturn the Supreme Court's Rasul decision by stripping the courts of jurisdiction to hear the Guantanamo cases. We have talked with Senator Obama about why the Guantanamo litigation is so significant, and we have worked closely with Senator Obama in the fight to preserve habeas corpus.

Some politicians are all talk and no action. But we know from first-hand experience that Senator Obama has demonstrated extraordinary leadership on this critical and controversial issue. When others stood back, Senator Obama helped lead the fight in the Senate against the Administration's efforts in the Fall of 2006 to strip the courts of jurisdiction, and when we were walking the halls of the Capitol trying to win over enough Senators to beat back the Administration's bill, Senator Obama made his key staffers and even his offices available to help us. Senator Obama worked with us to count the votes, and he personally lobbied colleagues who worried about the political ramifications of voting to preserve habeas corpus for the men held at Guantanamo. He has understood that our strength as a nation stems from our commitment to our core values, and that we are strong enough to protect both our security and those values. Senator Obama demonstrated real leadership then and since, continuing to raise Guantanamo and habeas corpus in his speeches and in the debates.

The writ of habeas corpus dates to the Magna Carta, and was enshrined by the Founders in our Constitution. The Administration's attack on habeas corpus rights is dangerous and wrong. America needs a President who will not triangulate this issue. We need a President who will restore the rule of law, demonstrate our commitment to human rights, and repair our reputation in the world community. Based on our work with him, we are convinced that Senator Obama can do this because he truly feels these issues "in his bones."

We urge you to support Senator Obama.

We encourage you to forward this message to anyone who might be interested.

Gary A. Isaac (Chicago, Illinois)
Elizabeth P. Gilson (New Haven, Connecticut)
Joshua Colangelo Bryan (New York, New York)
Thomas B. Wilner (Washington, DC)
Muneer I. Ahmad (Washington, DC)
Ismail Alsheik (Chicago, Illinois)
Diane Marie Amann (Berkeley, California)
Elizabeth Arora (Washington, DC)
Baher Azmy (Brooklyn, New York)
Scott Barker (Denver, Colorado)
Douglas Behr (Potomac, Maryland)
G. Michael Bellinger (Glen Ridge, New Jersey)
Amanda Shafer Berman (Washington, DC)
Joseph S. Berman (Boston, Massachusetts)
Catherine A. Bernard (Chicago, Illinois)
Carolyn Patty Blum (New York, New York)
Patricia A. Bronte (Chicago, Illinois)
Carol Elder Bruce (McLean, Virginia)
Bryan K. Bullock (Gary, Indiana)
Edmund Burke (Honolulu, Hawaii)
Charles H. Carpenter (Washington, DC)
Douglass Cassel (South Bend, Indiana)
Erwin Chemerinsky (Durham, North Carolina)
Jennifer Ching (Brooklyn, New York)
George M. Clarke (Washington, DC)
Jerry Cohen (Boston, Massachusetts)
John J. Connolly (Baltimore, Maryland)
David J. Cynamon (Chevy Chase, Maryland)
Joshua W. Denbeaux (Westwood, New Jersey)
Mark P. Denbeaux (Newark, New Jersey)
Matthew R. Devine (Chicago, Illinois)
Rebecca Dick (Arlington, Virginia)
Wells Dixon (New York, New York)
Heather Lewis Donnell (Chicago, Illinois)
James Dorsey (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
Robert Dunham (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Buz Eisenberg (Ashfield, Massachusetts)
Marc Falkoff (Chicago, Illinois)
Tina Monshipour Foster (Queens, New York)
Murray Fogler (Houston, Texas)
Eric M. Freedman (New York, New York)
Matthew Freimuth (New York, New York)
Hon. John J. Gibbons (Newark, New Jersey)
Jared Goldstein (Providence, Rhode Island)
William Goodman (Detroit, Michigan)
R. David Gratz (Westwood, New Jersey)
Eldon Greenberg (Washington, DC)
Dicky Grigg (Austin, Texas)
Dean Donald J. Guter, Rear Admiral, JAGC, USN (Ret.)
(Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
Gitanjali Gutierrez (Ithaca, New York)
Jonathan Hafetz (Brooklyn, New York)
Osman A. Handoo (Falls Church, Virginia)
Sarah Havens (New York, New York)
Gaillard T. Hunt (Silver Spring, Maryland)
Kristine Huskey (Austin, Texas)
Varda Hussain (Arlington, Virginia)
Dean John D. Hutson, Rear Admiral, JAGC, USN (Ret.)
(Concord, New Hampshire)
Thomas R. Johnson (Portland, Oregon)
Rick Kammen (Indianapolis, Indiana)
Stephen J. Kane (Chicago, Illinois)
Zachary Katznelson (San Francisco, California)
Samuel Kauffman (Portland, Oregon)
Michael Y. Kieval (Bethesda, Maryland)
Daniel Kirschner (New York, New York)
Jan Kitchel (Portland, Oregon)
Brian C. Lewis (Chicago, Illinois)
Eric Lewis (Bethesda, Maryland)
Ellen Lubell (Newton, Massachusetts)
Lawrence S. Lustberg (Newark, New Jersey)
J. Triplett Mackintosh (Denver, Colorado)
Emi MacLean (New York, New York)
Brian D. Maddox (Brooklyn, New York)
Jonathan J. Margolis (Boston, Massachusetts)
Peter S. Margulies (Barrington, Rhode Island)
David S. Marshall (Seattle, Washington)
David L. McColgin (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Neil McGaraghan (Boston, Massachusetts)
Brent Mickum (Bethesda, Maryland)
Nicole M. Moen (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
Christopher Moore (New York, New York)
Daniel P. Moylan (Baltimore, Maryland)
Richard G. Murphy, Jr. (Washington, DC)
William J. Murphy (Baltimore, Maryland)
David E. Nachman (Brooklyn, New York)
Silvana Naguib (Chicago, Illinois)
Brian J. Neff (South Orange, New Jersey)
William C. Newman (Northhampton, Massachusetts)
Shawn Nolan (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Matthew J. O'Hara (Chicago, Illinois)
Stephen H. Oleskey (Boston, Massachusetts)
Jordan J. Paust (Houston, Texas)
Charles H.R. Peters (Chicago, Illinois)
Kit A. Pierson (Washington, DC)
Jason Pinney (Boston, Massachusetts)
Wesley R. Powell (New York, New York)
Kevin G. Powers (Boston, Massachusetts)
Robert D. Rachlin (Burlington, Vermont)
Jana Ramsey (Brooklyn, New York)
Michael S. Rapkin (Los Angeles, California)
Michael Ratner (New York, New York)
David H. Remes (Silver Spring, Maryland)
David Richman (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Jeffrey D. Robinson (Laurel, Maryland)
Brent Rushforth (Washington, DC)
Peter M. Ryan (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Lowell E. Sachnoff (Chicago, Illinois)
Glenn M. Salvo (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
James C. Schroeder (Chicago, Illinois)
Harvey A. Schwartz (Boston, Massachusetts)
Andrew J. Schaefer (Chicago, Illinois)
Deming Sherman (Providence, Rhode Island)
Jessica Sherman (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
David Sleigh (St. Johnsbury, Vermont)
Marjorie M. Smith (Piermont, New York)
R. Michael Smith (Baltimore, Maryland)
Kent Spriggs (Tallahassee, Florida)
Michael J. Sternhell (Brooklyn, New York)
Jeffrey M. Strauss (Chicago, Illinois)
Mark Sullivan (Bedford Hills, New York)
Joseph A. Sullivan (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Patricia A. Sullivan (Providence, Rhode Island)
Brett G. Sweitzer (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Doris Tennant (Newton, Massachusetts)
Danielle R. Voorhees (Denver, Colorado)
Vincent Warren (New York, New York)
Carolyn Welshhans (Arlington, Virginia)
P. Sabin Willett (Boston, Massachusetts)
Jill M. Williamson (Takoma Park, Maryland)
Elizabeth A. Wilson (Washington, DC)
Jeff Wu (Rockville, Maryland)

[Peace Patriot]

6. Wow! That is an impressive endorsement. I can't think of any people I admire more

than the Guantanamo lawyers who have been fighting for our Constitution, and for our moral and legal integrity as a people--both the military jag lawyers who have done so at great risk to their careers, and the private lawyers such as these, who brave similar risks, I'm sure (although I don't know specifically what threats and risks they have endured).

This is some of the most thankless, risky and important work that anyone in our nation has done, to resist the Bush Junta, and restore our democracy. We owe them Congressional medals of honor--or perhaps we should create a new Medal of the American People to be conferred in a different way, for outstanding bravery and service to us--to we, the people--in extremely difficult conditions.

That they would endorse Barack Obama is, to me, one helluva plus for Obama--some of whose polices I find too vague, too careful or too same-old/same-old. I had hoped for Democratic candidates who would blast Bushite war crimes and defend the Constitution. And I perhaps very foolishly expected this of our..ahem...Democratic Congress (which now has an approval rating that is worse than Bush's!. Gore said the right things. Kucinich did. And, later on, Edwards began to (and was soon evicted from the race by the corporate news monopolies). Who will defend us? Who will demand a return to the rule of law? Who will uphold their own oath of office? At least I have these lawyers' word that Obama has the right policy. How aggressive he will be in implementing it is hard to say--and I doubt that he will encourage prosecution for war crimes, which really needs to be done, if the rule of law is going to mean anything. But this is nevertheless very encouraging as a sign that Obama recognizes the problem, and has already provided help to these lawyers in dealing with it. clearly, too, they find Hillary Clinton's policy wanting--or they would not have publicly chosen between them. It makes me more enthusiastic about Obama. I have always been enthusiastic about his supporters--who are the best thing that has happened in our political life in a very long time. It takes more than a president to reform a country. It takes the whole country. And the passionate citizen activism of Obama's supporters is the essential condition needed for that transformation.

[SunsetDreams]

2. Everything you state is what Obama wants to overturn

he says it's all unconstitutional.

[bowens43]

3. Lets hope so!

[HereSince1628]

4. The R's would never want a Dem to have the power Cheney wields

You can bet that the executive counter-mands are already back from the typist.

What the NeoCons and their corporate co-criminals really do not want is a Justice Department that will pursue war crimes indictments. That threat is real with an Obama presidency.

[Gore1FL]

5. I am not sure I would call it a threat

to adhere to th guidelines set in the articles of the Constitution.

Thats sort of like threatening to pay taxes and obey the speed limit.

[HereSince1628]

8. The threat of prosecution to the NeoCons is on the horizon.

I could call it a promise of public servants to faithfully and fully carry out the duties and responsibilities of their offices as outlined in the Constitution, and it would still be threatening to the NeoCons. In the same way that a determined prosecutor is threatening to criminals.

There are times when the parsing of words is useful to understanding and there are times when it is a tedious sophomoric exercise in semantics.

[Gore1FL]

9. I agree

Thanks for clarifying that the threat mentioned was implied as to the neocons because it seemed as it was to the next president, and agreeing that my parsing was not sophomoric by providing the necessary understanding.

[cooolandrew]

7. Sorry his record says the reverse where was HRC on telecom immunity. Obama voted for us.

You do know he is a contitutional law professor. Despite what rove says. He lives by it and his campaign is a tribute to the founding documtns ideals. "we are one people" "all men (and women) arre crated equal"