White House Seeks Secrecy on Detainee (please read)

[Danieljay]

This shows up late night on yahoo. This has important implications to the future of this country. We should pay close attention to this one.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040106/ap_on_go_pr_wh/scotus_detainee_2

White House Seeks Secrecy on Detainee
Mon Jan 5, 7:13 PM ET Add White House - AP to My Yahoo!


By GINA HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - In an extraordinary request, the Bush administration asked the Supreme Court on Monday to let it keep its arguments secret in a case involving an immigrant's challenge of his treatment after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

snip


Mohamed Kamel Bellahouel wants the high court to consider whether the government acted improperly by secretly jailing him after the attacks and keeping his court fight private. He is supported by more than 20 journalism organizations and media companies.

snip


"The idea that there is nothing that could be filed publicly is really ridiculous," she said. "It just emphasizes our point that we're living in frightening times. People can be arrested, thrown in jail and have secret court proceedings, and we know absolutely nothing about it."


snip

The Supreme Court rejected an appeal last year from newspapers that sought information about the detentions. Bellahouel's case asks the justices to consider whether the government violated the nation's long tradition of open court proceedings.


The case is M.K.B. v. Warden, 03-6747.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

1. My God, the gaul.

They can't let them close these records unless they're ready to flush the Constitution.

[soothsayer]

15. gall

unless he's French, then gaul is correct...!

But yeah, the gall indeed.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

16. LMAO!!! Please, tell me I didn't just do that....

:shrug: :party:

[Zhade]

2. Big kick

:dem:

[Sandpiper]

3. It's really frightening

To see how fond the Bush Administration is of Star Chamber style legal proceedings.

[burrowowl]

4. Here is hoping that

Judges have the balls to stand up to this maladminstration!

[Blayde Starrfyre]

5. 6th Amendment

"In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial"

If there was ever an open-and-shut case, this is it. This is grounds for impeachment. First, for the fact that no one in the Executive Branch apparently has ever read the constitution, and for wasting our money on a frivilous, meritless legal fight like this.

[jpgray]

6. Bingo

The other watchdog that has fallen asleep is the public, who likely have no idea what the 6th amendment is.

[Sandpiper]

8. Has there ever been a time

When this administration has let some pesky little thing like the Bill of Rights get in their way? George W. Bush, John Ashcroft and Ted Olson live in a world where the Executive Branch reigns supreme, rather than the law of the land.

This is the same administration that decided if the Executive branch labelled you an "enemy combatant," they could then strip you of your constitutionally guaranteed right to due process.

[Judi Lynn]

7. Found more info. on this case in google

(snip) Secrecy Appealed
Detained after terror attacks, Algerian-born man asks U.S. Supreme Court to review sealing of his case

Dan Christensen
Miami Daily Business Review
09-25-2003


A South Florida waiter who was detained in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether U.S. District Judge Paul C. Huck in Miami and the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals abused their discretion by sealing his case without explanation.

But in an unusual move, the public copy of Mohamed Kamel Bellahouel's petition to the Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari is heavily censored, with entire pages blanked out. A complete copy, plus attachments, was filed under seal for the justices' eyes alone. Still, the filing by the federal public defender's office in Miami is the first public acknowledgement by any federal court of Bellahouel's habeas corpus case.

According to court papers filed by Paul M. Rashkind, chief of appeals for Federal Public Defender Kathleen M. Williams, the Algerian-born Bellahouel was "obliged" to file both full and redacted versions of his Supreme Court petition to comply with lower court secrecy rulings in his case.

The lower courts, the petition said, have gone to great lengths to hide the "essential fact" that Bellahouel's case even exists -- including keeping the existence of the case off the public court dockets. But, it said, "the facts of the petitioner's case would make a significant contribution to the national debate about the detention and treatment of Middle Eastern persons. There is no legitimate government interest permitting court-suppression of his ordeal."

Even at the Supreme Court, however, the public file for Case No. 03M1 does not include the petitioner's name or the names of the lower courts that kept the case secret. The style lists Bellahouel's initials -- M.K.B. v. Warden et al. The case is identifiable to knowledgeable outsiders only because the petition includes a reference to a March 12 Daily Business Review article about Bellahouel's case.

That article reported how the case only came to light due to the inadvertent disclosure by the 11th Circuit's court clerk's office in Atlanta of Bellahouel's appeal of Judge Huck's decision to seal the case. That disclosure led to the alteration of published federal court calendars and computer records to hide the case again.
(snip/...)

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1063212087029

Just horrid. I hope he escapes this trap, somehow.

Thanks for posting the article, Danieljay. Welcome to D.U. :hi: :hi:

[jpgray]

9. Just goes to show--our most core principles can so easily be subverted(nt)

[reprobate]

12. I hope that WE escape this administration, somehow.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

10. See? This is the problem. From the article...

Because of a mistake at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, the M.K.B. records were briefly made public. A Miami legal newspaper reported his identity and said that he was released after five months, and after he had been taken to Alexandria, Va., to testify before a federal grand jury.

A mistake. A mistake?

This is why these things HAVE to be public. What if that mistake had been to put this man to death? Or, if this is truly a "national security" matter, what if that mistake had compromised said national security?

We keep forgetting, I fear, that we are all too human, that human conditions don't change just because of technology. We still have to have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness overseen by a government who's proccesses are transparent, evenly applied, and controlled by the ultimate authority, the people.

[Danieljay]

11. only by mistake do we even know?

the only reason we even hear about it is by mistake? Just what is happening that we DON'T know about? Never has an administration been so secretive and sealed more records than the Bush administration. Truly frightening.

[enough]

13. kick (nt)

.

[The Stranger]

14. This Administration and this Justice Department have done more

damage to civil liberties and the Constitution than any in history.

[cthrumatrix]

17. again ...no debate on issues of importance . We get Diana death

and more BS...instead of issues affecting the Bill of Rights or Constitution.

[pinto]

18. this slipped through court clerk at the time, who published the info

on the court docket, as usual, until it was pulled by authorities....seems I read about it in Christian Science Monitor story..I'll look for link.

ed for content, was Atlanta clerk not Florida....

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

19. kick

:kick:

[Just Me]

20. WHO would want to keep "secret" such a horrifying example of abuse??

I am so sick of this sh*t!!!

If the Supremes don't shove their fingers in the faces of the administration's counsel on this,...I,...

I just can't say,...the words are,...beyond me,...