Archive for House hearings
Posted by Congress Watcher on July 31, 2008 at 9:39 am · Filed under House hearings
Angry Republicans have blasted the Supreme Court for asserting that prisoners held by the American government at Guantanamo Bay have legal rights. They have argued that providing habeas corpus rights to the Guantanamo prisoners is being soft on terrorism.
Sadly, these Republicans don’t seem to understand what habeas corpus is. If they did understand, they would appreciate that habeas corpus isn’t a way to be soft on prisoners. It’s a method for getting smart in dealing with crime.
In testimony yesterday before the House Armed Services Committee, Stephen Olesky summarized the practical significance of the Boumediene decision by the Supreme Court:
“After almost seven years of waiting, our clients will finally receive a meaningful determination of whether there are sufficient credible facts to justify their indefinite imprisonment. They will at long last have the opportunity to demonstrate that the Government’s actions are groundless – a critical right that our Constitution wisely enshrines and protects. There is no sound reason for Congress to interfere in this process at this time and thereby delay habeas trials that are already far too long deferred and delayed.”
After seven years, only after the Supreme Court’s decision, will prisoners at Guantanamo have the opportunity to demonstrate that their imprisonment has been groundless. Consider what that means: For seven years, people have been imprisoned at Guantanamo without any opportunity to demonstrate the groundlessness of the imprisonment.
Imagine being kept in prison for years without any trial, or ever even having the chance to present an argument that there is no reason for your imprisonment. That’s the kind of injustice that no truly free nation could ever impose.
If you would retort that the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay are the worst of the worst, evil, dangerous terrorists, consider how you know that to be true. All you know is what you’ve been told by the people who have held the prisoners captive. You don’t really know whether the prisoners are guilty of any crime until a fair trial has taken place, in which evidence has been examined and debated. You can’t even know whether the prisoners have been fairly accused of any crimes if habeas corpus is withheld.
Habeas corpus doesn’t let guilty criminals off the hook. It is a fundamental legal tool in free societies that enables the government to distinguish between true criminal suspects and people who have just been mistakenly thrown into a prison cell.
It’s plainly stupid for the American government to play hardball with people who have been mistakenly imprisoned - people who never had anything to do with terrorism in the first place. Restoring the right to habeas corpus helps our government to finally get smart, and start focusing its efforts on suspects who actually have some likelihood of being connected to terrorist conspiracies.
Posted by Congress Watcher on July 26, 2008 at 12:36 pm · Filed under House hearings
Thanks must go to Dennis Kucinich, who used a resolution of impeachment in order to gain a hearing on issues of abuse of executive powers by President George W. Bush. It is almost certain that nothing will come of this hearing, because many Democrats in Congress are determined to look the other way and ignore the abuses and crimes of George W. Bush, out of the theory that because Bush is soon to leave office, the problems will just fade away.
The strategy of running out the clock on President Bush has a central weakness, one that was pointed out at the hearing by former member of the House of Representatives Elizabeth Holtzman. Holtzman warned that passing laws to limit the President’s powers may not be enough, given that Bush has already set a strong precedent for ignoring laws already on the books that limit presidential powers. She said,
“Some have advocated reforming statutes, and that may be useful. But, I want to emphasize to the Committee that presidents intent on putting themselves above the law will not obey a new statute any more than they would obey an old one. Statutes cannot constrain a president who will not be constrained. “
Statutes cannot constrain a president who will not be contrained… if the Congress constrains itself.
The laws necessary to bring George W. Bush back under control have been there all along. What’s been lacking is the will among members of Congress to exercise the authority of Congress to respond when the President ignores the law.
If Congress continues to accept the idea that holding the President accountable to the law is inconvenient, the power of the Presidency will continue to expand, no matter what individual occupies the office. Unless Congress reasserts itself, the American people will be able to trust neither the President nor Congress.
In order to prevent this constitutional erosion from continuing, responsibility rests with the American people to ensure that their representatives in the House and Senate reassert congressional authority over the Executive Branch. If the American people don’t care enough to demand that their representatives show a backbone, then Congress will continue to mimic their apathy, and do nothing to interfere with the growth of American autocracy.
Posted by Congress Watcher on June 10, 2008 at 8:36 am · Filed under All Articles, House hearings
Hearings taking place in the House of Representatives today:
The House Energy and Commerce Committee, Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection
Environmental Protection Agency scientists will testify and be questioned about the the health effects of phthalates and bisphenol-A in consumer products. Given the existence of research indicating that these chemicals can cause cancer, diabetes and obesity in humans, there are grave concerns about what led the EPA to delay efforts to inform consumers about the risks of using products containing phthalates and bisphenol-A.
Representative Bobby Rush chairs the subcommittee.
The Foreign Affairs Committee, Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight, 2:00 PM
John Bellinger, the legal adviser to the Department of State, will testify and be asked questions about the Bush Administration’s practice of extreme rendition, in which prisoners in United States custody are knowingly sent to be interrogated by nations that routinely use torture.
Representative William Delahunt chairs the subcommittee.
The Natural Resources Committee, Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, and Oceans, 2:00 PM
On the upcoming annual International Whaling Commission meeting. This year’s meeting will be held in Santiago, Chile from June 23-27. This year, for the first time in a long while, some nations have begun to hunt whales.
A live webcast of the hearing will be available. Representative Madeleine Bordallo chairs the subcommittee.
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