The XX Factor : Department of Justice

Padilla v. Yoo: A Blow to the Government

Emily Bazelon — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:35:00 GMT

Late last Friday, in a development that hasn't gotten enough attention, a judge appointed by George W. Bush breathed a big breath of life into a lawsuit that seeks to hold John Yoo accountable for the abuse suffered by Jose Padilla , one of the Bush administration's...(read more)

Obama: Holder's Call

Emily Bazelon — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 17:05:00 GMT

Could the Bush administration lawyers who wrote the torture memos really be on the hook, as I suggested Monday (and plenty of their critics have longed for)? President Obama left that door surprisingly ajar today. From his press conference: With respect...(read more)

The End of the Necessity Defense

Emily Bazelon — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:03:00 GMT

The only way to understand how the Bush administration could have waterboarded two detainees 266 times is to go back to footnote 27 of this 2005 torture memo , which Scott Shane pointed to in the New York Times . It discusses the “unnecessary use of enhanced”...(read more)

Why Obama Stuck With State Secrets

Emily Bazelon — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 18:29:00 GMT

Glenn Greenwald does a great job of eviscerating the lame argument —about how the government is just buying time—in defense of the Obama administration's blanket defense of the blanket state-secrets privilege on Monday. When lawyers want more time, they...(read more)

State Secrets. Still Secret.

Emily Bazelon — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 02:14:00 GMT

So much for a perfect score. In a piece today, Judith Resnik and I came up with a top 10 list of Bush legal positions that Obama's Department of Justice should drop. No. 5 was the "state secrets" defense, as invoked by Bush lawyers to block a lawsuit...(read more)

Leahy's Bid for Truth

Emily Bazelon — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 20:18:00 GMT

Sen. Patrick Leahy, chair of the judiciary committee, is calling for a truth commission to investigate various unfortunate doings at the Bush Department of Justice. The commission would have subpoena power but witnesses wouldn't open themselves to criminal...(read more)

More on Torture Tapes

Dahlia Lithwick — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 20:18:00 GMT

I am not sure Mukasey had any choice, Emily . The op-ed in today’s New York Times by Tom Kean and Lee Hamilton, the co-chairmen of the Sept. 11 commission, was a clarion call for just such an investigation. Here you have the bipartisan pronouncement that,...(read more)

Good for Mukasey

Emily Bazelon — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 20:02:00 GMT

A couple of weeks ago, I criticized Attorney General Michael Mukasey for stonewalling Congress over its investigation of the destroyed CIA tapes, and for apparent flaws in the structure of the internal Justice Department probe. I'm feeling better about...(read more)