DEMOC.cases

The Global Dialog Project Dialog Santa Fe |  | CIVIL LIBERTIES BROKEN OR IGNORED: case studies and examples

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First Amendment breakdowns Turning your back on Leader Bush is now Illegal. Applauding Leader Bush Is Now Mandatory. Ohio State University graduates planned to silently protest President Bush's commencement speech by turning their backs. The entire graduating class was told they would be expelled from the university and arrested if they did so. They were also told to give Bush a 'thundering ovation'. Sixth Amendment breakdowns The Bellingham (Wash.) Herald: On the rights of suspected terrorists - and the need to prove someone is one before stripping them of their rights as a citizen. the From AP Editorial Roundup, June 27, 2002 "... Al Muhajir was born Jose Padilla in Brooklyn and is a U.S. citizen. He was arrested May 8 in Chicago, where he lives, and taken to a high-security area in the Metropolitan Correctional Facility in New York City. ... Al Muhajir may very well be a very bad guy. But a funny thing has happened to his case since Ashcroft's announcement. At first, government officials said he was arrested carrying plans. Later, they had to admit he had no plans on his person. Then it was revealed that al Muhajir was allegedly looking at information on "dirty bombs" on the Internet, not actually participating in a plot in the conventional definition of the word. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said on CBS News: "I don't think there was actually a plot beyond some fairly loose talk." But al Muhajir, a U.S. citizen, is now being held in a military prison in Charleston, S.C., still not charged with any crime. The government has not presented an iota of evidence to a judge about why he is being held. Al Muhajir has been denied access to an attorney and his family. President Bush declared him an "enemy combatant," clearing the way for him to be held until a war has been concluded, without ever being charged. ... Sometimes arrests will happen prematurely. That's understood. But under our judicial system, the defendant is released not held indefinitely until enough evidence is collected to make a charge. In this instance, it's beginning to seem like the government continues to hold onto al Muhajir because it's embarrassed to admit it doesn't have a case."