Gavel Grab

Today, House Democrats and the full Senate were sent a letter that opposes a blanket ban on transfers of Guantanamo detainees to the United States. Justice at Stake and a JAS partner group, The Constitution Project, were among fifteen organizations that signed the letter.

A full ban on transfers would deny detainees admittance to the United States, regardless of purpose, and would undermine America’s anti-terrorism effort, the letter said.

“A blanket ban on transfers would restrict the Obama administration’s ability to employ what has been one of the most valuable and effective counterterrorism tools available – criminal prosecutions in regular federal courts,” the letter said. It cited the more than 400 individuals who have been successfully convicted of terrorism-related cases, as well as the on-going trial of Ahmed Ghailani, a former Guantanamo detainee charged with terrorism crimes, in the Southern District of New York.

The House is expected to consider a blanket ban on Guantanamo detainee transfers this afternoon while the military construction appropriations bill is on the House floor. Gavel Grab will provide an update later today.

A three-judge federal appeals court has struck down Minnesota rules that bar judicial candidates from endorsing candidates for elective office and from directly soliciting campaign money given by individuals and small groups.

The ruling represented a major victory for lawyer Greg Wersal (photo at left), currently a candidate for the Minnesota Supreme Court who is running against Justice Helen Meyer, according to an article by Minnesota Lawyer Blog.

He has crusaded to eliminate limits on judicial campaigns, and the challenges that he brought “have eviscerated the framework for the vast majority of the restrictions,” according to the blog.

For the two-judge majority of the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel, Judge Clarence Arlen Beam wrote, “[W]e think the Constitution favors strict recusal standards and fewer speech restrictions.” The opinion, released Thursday, is available by clicking here.

Judge Kermit E. Bye dissented, writing, “[W]here a state has crafted its restrictions carefully to maintain a fair and impartial judiciary, in both practice and appearance, as Minnesota has done here, the First Amendment must yield.”

“This is a major victory toward the goal of holding judges accountable through free, open and competitive elections,” Wersal declared.

President Obama hasn’t talked much in public about judicial politics, but this week he spoke out about the importance of getting Senate confirmation votes on nominees who have long awaited them.

“Most of these folks were voted out of committee unanimously, or nearly unanimously, by both Democrats and Republicans,” Obama said, according to The Blog of Legal Times.

“Both Democrats and Republicans agreed that they were qualified to serve. Nevertheless, some in the minority have used parliamentary procedures time and again to deny them a vote in the full Senate.”

“If we want our judicial system to work, if we want to deliver justice in our courts, then we need judges on our benches,” Obama added. “I hope that in the coming months, we’ll be able to work together to ensure a timelier process in the Senate.”

For the latest scorecard on Obama’s nominees and their confirmation in the Senate, see this recent Gavel Grab post.

A federal judge has enjoined the most controversial sections of Arizona’s new immigration law from taking effect.

With the law scheduled to take effect Thursday, Judge Susan Bolton put on hold sections of it that call for police to check an individual’s immigration status while enforcing other laws and that require immigrants to carry their legal papers all of the time, according to a New York Times article.

“Preserving the status quo through a preliminary injunction is less harmful than allowing state laws that are likely pre-empted by federal law to be enforced,” Judge Bolton said. Her opinion is available here (with thanks to The Blog of Legal Times). The judge added:

“There is a substantial likelihood that officers will wrongfully arrest legal resident aliens. By enforcing this statute, Arizona would impose a ‘distinct, unusual and extraordinary’ burden on legal resident aliens that only the federal government has the authority to impose.” Read more

Senate Republicans drew condemnation in two newspaper editorials for blocking a bill to require disclosure by corporations and labor unions of their political spending (see Gavel Grab).

“Senate Republicans made sure this fall’s elections will be drenched in corporate money,” said a San Francisco Chronicle editorial. “Get ready for a high-spending mud fight this fall as business groups exploit the [Supreme Court's Citizens United] ruling and take advantage of low polling numbers for Democrats.”

A New York Times editorial was headlined, “Keeping Politics in the Shadows.” Foes of the measure, the editorial said, “want the right to poison the political atmosphere without being held accountable for their speech.”

The editorial added that supporters of the measure, called The DISCLOSE Act, didn’t help their cause by adding several unnecessary provisions that attracted Republican opposition. Read more

Target Corp.’s donations totaling $150,000 to a group supporting the GOP candidate for governor in Minnesota have sparked controversy.

Chief Executive Gregg Steinhafel told employees that Target is “unwavering” in support of the gay community, according to an Associated Press article, which noted concerns raised by gay Target employees. The GOP candidate, Tom Emmer, is a staunch conservative and opposes gay marriage. The group supporting him, MN Forward, is running ads backing Zemmer.

“We rarely endorse all advocated positions of the organizations or candidates we support, and we do not have a political or social agenda,” Steinhafel said.

Under the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, corporations and labor unions can spend unlimited sums to support or oppose political candidates with independent advertising. The impact of that decision is not clear.

“This is the leading edge,”  Ed Bender, who heads the National Institute on Money in State Politics, told AP.

Senate Republicans have blocked efforts by Democrats to advance  a bill with more stringent requirements for special interest groups, unions and corporations to disclose their political spending.

Democrats were unable to muster the 60 votes needed Tuesday to get past a filibuster by Republicans against The DISCLOSE Act, as the bill is called, and it could mean the bill is dead for this year, according to a Reuters article. The procedural vote was 57-41.

“The DISCLOSE Act seeks to protect unpopular Democrat politicians by silencing their critics,” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said.

President Obama, in Rose Garden remarks on Monday, had called for passage of the bill. A vote against it, he said, “is nothing less than a vote to allow corporate and special interest takeovers of our elections,” the San Francisco Examiner reported. Read more

Conflicting  court rulings in the case of a Yemeni national held at Guantanamo Bay underscore the need for clear rules on challenging detentions, a Washington Post editorial contends.

The editorial draws on the case of Mohammed Al-Adahi to argue that detainees now face a kind of “Guantanamo roulette” when it comes to the standards they must meet in challenging their detention.

District Court Judge Gladys Kessler ordered Adahi’s release last year, looking at each of his suspicious acts in isolation and concluding that his “admission that he trained at Al-Farouq [training camp] is not sufficient to carry the Government’s burden of showing that he was a part, or substantial supporter, of enemy forces.” Read more

From Texas, there is editorial board applause for bipartisanship in judicial selection.

An editorial in the San Antonio Express-News reports that President Obama nominated U.S. Magistrate Diana Saldaña to a federal district court judgeship after months of inaction.

The breakthrough on her nomination was thanks to the willingness of Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Democrat, to work in a bipartisan fashion, according to the editorial, which notes that Texas’ two senators are Republican.

Texas has six open federal district judgeships, and the senators and Texas’ House Democrats disagree on other potential nominees. This is a problem, especially for courts on the border with Mexico, the editorial says; it concludes with an appeal for further bipartisanship:

“It is long past time to put away political considerations. The Democratic delegation must work with the senators to find acceptable candidates.

“Otherwise, the judicial delays will remain another example of Washington’s pathetic dysfunction due to partisanship. Texans would rather have effective government than partisan scorekeeping.”

To learn more about how partisanship affects judicial nominations, see Justice at Stake’s issues page on the topic.