Word: legalism
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Less than a day after President Barack Obama told CIA employees in person that he didn't support prosecuting them for the harsh interrogations of terrorism suspects, he left open the possibility that those who drafted the legal opinions justifying such questionable techniques could end up facing charges. The surprising statement marked just the latest step in Obama's evolving view of the Bush Administration's handling of terrorism cases, and it underscored the fine line he is navigating in his stated commitments to uphold the rule of law and at the same time move beyond the divisive Bush years...
...retrospect, the apparent change of heart was almost a self-fulfilling prophecy: after all, it was Obama himself who last week ordered the release of four Bush Administration legal memos justifying interrogations that included waterboarding, sleep deprivation and other harsh methods. The documents - with their excruciating details largely intact, despite CIA Director Leon Panetta's call that more be blacked out - outraged partisans on both sides...
...they will support legislation, which was once supported by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden, to give judges a greater ability to limit the use of the state-secrets privilege as a courtroom tactic. "It's disappointing that the Administration is throwing up the same legal argument," says Caroline Frederickson, the ACLU's top lobbyist...
...another case causing concern within the civil rights world, the Obama Administration has appealed the ruling of Federal District Judge John Bates that three detainees - two Yemenis and a Tunisian - who are being held at Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan have a legal right to challenge their imprisonment. If successful, the argument by Obama's Justice Department attorneys could create a loophole that would allow Obama to transfer prisoners to war zones for indefinite detention, a situation similar to the legal limbo that Bush established for Guantánamo...
...stands, the Obama Administration policies on these matters are still very much a work in progress. Several key policy posts at the Justice Department, including the crucial top position at the Office of Legal Counsel, have yet to be confirmed. The Obama Administration also continues to meet with civil libertarians to discuss these issues. The latest, a private gathering that took place on Friday, involved several civil-liberties groups that had spoken with the Obama transition office about the state-secrets issue late last year...