Courts & Law

It’s time to hold the architects of illegal torture accountable for their crimes

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Posted  by AzBlueMeanie:

NurembergCan we seat a Nuremberg Tribunal-style panel of judges now to hold the architects of illegal torture accountable for their crimes in the name of America? (Statutes of limitations do not apply to war crimes).

The New York Times today reports  "A nonpartisan, independent review of interrogation and detention
programs in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks
concludes that 'it is indisputable that the United States engaged in the
practice of torture' and that the nation’s highest officials bore
ultimate responsibility for it." U.S. Engaged in
Torture After 9/11,
Review Concludes:

The sweeping, 577-page report [Document: Constitution Project’s Report on Detainee Treatment] says that while brutality has occurred in
every American war, there never before had been “the kind of considered
and detailed discussions that occurred after 9/11 directly involving a
president and his top advisers on the wisdom, propriety and legality of
inflicting pain and torment on some detainees in our custody.” The
study, by an 11-member panel convened by the Constitution Project, a legal research and advocacy group, is to be released on Tuesday morning.

Gov. Brewer signs back-door assault on Citizens Clean Eelctions – let the lawsuits commence

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Governor Jan Brewer signed off on the Tea-Publican back-door asault on Citizens Clean Elections, House Bill 2593, Brewer signs bill ending limits on campaign giving, a bill which is unconstitutional and will result in promised lawsuits. The bill is unconstitutional because the Clean Elections Act of 1998 was a citizens initiative, and … Read more

Civil unions city ordinances in Arizona about to expand?

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

EqualLast week Bisbee legalized civil unions, pushing aside AG's legal warnings. The City of Tempe announced that it too would explore a ciivl unions ordinance. Tempe to begin discussion on civil-union laws. Members of the Tucson City Council have advised me that city Attorney Mike Rankin has been asked to explore the legality of a ciivl unions ordinance for Tucson. Can the City of Flagstaff be far behind? Maybe even Phoenix?

Today in the Arizona Republic, Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton put these efforts into context. Stanton dons cape, defends little Bisbee against Horne:

Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton this week said that if Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne has a problem with cities giving legal status to gay and lesbian couples, he should stop bullying tiny Bisbee and take the issue up with the state’s largest city.

Phoenix has had a domestic- partner registry since 2009. Couples who file a declaration of partnership with the city clerk then have a right to visit their partners in any hospital in the city.

“We can’t go beyond our area of jurisdiction,” Stanton said. “But this gives legal status in any area where the city can provide support.”

He said that’s what Bisbee is trying to do with its civil-union ordinance.

“As mayor of Phoenix, I stand with Bisbee,” he said. “I support local control. And if the attorney general wants to pick on somebody, they ought to look at Phoenix.”

Update to ‘Offshore Leaks’ investigation: WaPo investigative report

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Washington Post today has a lengthy investigative report into the "Offshore Leaks" investigation by a consortium of media outlets from 46 countries around the world. See previously, Offshore world: 2.5 million leaked files reveal stunning extent of global tax havens. You can read the full ICIJ report here.

The Washington Post reports today, Piercing the secrecy of offshore tax havens:

A New York hedge fund manager allegedly swindles $12 million from a
prominent Baltimore family. An Indiana couple is accused of bilking
hundreds of customers by charging for free trials of cosmetic products. A
financial manager in Texas promises 23-percent returns but absconds
with $33.5 million of his investors’ money in a classic Ponzi scheme.

All three cases have one thing in common: money that ended up
in offshore accounts and trusts set up in tax havens around the world.

The existence of the trusts surfaced during a joint examination of the offshore world by The Washington Post and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists,
a D.C-based nonprofit news organization. ICIJ obtained 2.5 million
records of more than 120,000 companies and trusts created by two
offshore companies, Commonwealth Trust Ltd. (CTL) in the British Virgin Islands
and Portcullis TrustNet, which operates mostly in Asia and the Cook
Islands, a South Pacific nation. The records were obtained by Gerard Ryle, ICIJ’s director, as a result of an investigation he conducted in Australia.