Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

American Heros

Posted on July 1, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, the military lawyers representing detainees are true heroes. And it hasn’t been without personal cost — see Whiskey Bar: Men of Honor on how Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift, victorious in the Hamdan case, may be forced out of the Navy.

Posted in Guantanamo | Comments Off on American Heros

I Told You So

Posted on July 1, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

As so many of us predicted, law designed to prevent cybersquatting can too easily be mis-used to intimidate core First Amendment speech. Via The Trademark Blog, here’s a link to Blogger shuts down Web site that mocked legislator in the Honolulu Advertiser.

An irreverent local blogger has chosen to give up a Web site making fun of state Rep. Bev Harbin after Harbin threatened to take him to court under the state’s law against cybersquatting.

Jon Asato, a tour guide and writer, said he agreed to drop the domain names BevHarbin .com and BeverlyHarbin.com after Harbin sent him two letters warning of a civil lawsuit. Asato said his Harbin Web site, which had cartoons that likened Harbin to The Incredible Hulk and the Joker character from the movie “Batman,” should be protected as free speech.

The law at issue is a state law, not the federal Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act. And I think that any law which reached this sort of political criticism would be unquestionably unconstitutional. But fighting those fights is expensive, and most regular citizens don’t have the money and the time to do it. Intimidation works.

Posted in Law: Free Speech, Law: Trademark Law | Comments Off on I Told You So

Hamdan Analysis

Posted on June 29, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

They do it, so I don’t have to (besides, they do it better):

Enjoy!

Posted in Law: Constitutional Law | 2 Comments

Hamdan Highlights

Posted on June 29, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

In the extended I post the syllabus (summary) of the case, pending publication of the full text somewhere.

Three key points (I think) on a quick reading:

  • 5-3 for most of it, with Kennedy writing separately from the majority, avoiding decision on some of the finer points of what the Geneva Convention requires
  • Five votes for the proposition — rejected by a majority in the DC Circuit, with prescient concurrence on this point by Judge Williams — that common Article 3 of the Geneva Convention applies to the people held in Guantanamo Bay, whatever label the administration tries to stick on them (e.g. “enemy combatant”)

Continue reading →

Posted in Guantanamo | 11 Comments

Hamdan Reversed!

Posted on June 29, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

Supreme Court Rejects Guantanamo Tribunals

Justices rule the Bush administration overstepped its authority in creating military war crimes trials for detainees as part of its anti-terror policies.
–Associated Press 10:09 a.m. ET

I have a lot of meetings today, so it may be a while before I can write about the decision. This is good – it remains to be seen how good….

Posted in Civil Liberties | 1 Comment

A Sign of the Times

Posted on June 29, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

Want to know why political journalism is such a mess? A piece of it is that they don't do their homework. (Another piece is that they used to be the intellectuals of the working class; now they are professionals who went to college with the people they cover.) It's gotten to the point that it's news when a political reporter actually reads to the end of reports, as can be seen in this profile of (obsessively) hard-working NYT reporter Sewell Chan:

NYO – Off the Record: “The story I like to tell about Sewell is you hand him the M.T.A. budget, and two days later he’s digging through it and he’s finding B1 story leads on page 250,” Mr. Jamieson said. “I think he’s home in bed reading it. He flips through it and finds things like they’re going to take conductors off train lines this year. It’s just classic good reporting.”

This is unusual? Ouch. No wonder Murray Waas is such a standout.

I think the problem is particularly acute among reporters who cover “politics” which they see as somehow divorced from underlying realities of governing. The reporters with more specialized beats are sometime impressively well informed. Certainly quite a few of the Washington Post and NYT tech journalists I've spoken to had done real homework, as had the main AP guys. But, in my admittedly limited experience, pound for pound the real standouts in terms of preparation are the Wall Street Journal reporters. Either they routinely read in depth or I'm just the last guy they call when no one else is around.

Posted in The Media | 1 Comment