Prominent conservative lawyers joined liberal colleagues Tuesday in opposing * anti-terror tactics

[Kadie]

Terror case shows Bush, libertarian rift
By MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writer
28 minutes ago


WASHINGTON - Prominent conservative lawyers joined liberal colleagues Tuesday in opposing Bush administration anti-terror tactics, arguing that an immigrant held as an enemy combatant has a right to seek his freedom in court.

The legal brief, filed in the case of suspected al-Qaida sleeper agent Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, argues that a new military commissions law is unconstitutional.

The argument has been made in this and other detainee cases, but Tuesday's brief is notable for the bedfellows created by the politics of anti-terrorism. Staunchly Democratic law school deans Harold Koh of Yale and Laurence Tribe of Harvard were joined by lawyers such as Steven Calabresi, who served in the Reagan and first Bush administrations and helped found the conservative Federalist Society.

"It shows the phrases 'conservative' and 'libertarian' have less overlap than ever before," said Richard A. Epstein, a University of Chicago law professor and Federalist Society member who signed the brief. "This administration has lost all libertarians on all counts."

Of the 29 professors signing the brief, David L. Shapiro, a deputy solicitor general during the first Bush administration, joined Calabresi and Epstein as the most prominent names with conservative ties. Others were outspoken Democrats and some weren't politically active.

more...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061212/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/detainee_lawsuits_2

[Eugene]

1. "executive branch changing the rules to avoid challenges to its own authority"

- Harold Koh

"They figured out every constitutional protection you'd want
and they removed them" - Richard Epstein

The professors are describing a headlong rush towards dictatorship.
Al-Marri is not just any detainee, he is being held on U.S. soil
and the government says he has no rights.

K & R