Guantanamo lawyers claim US government eavesdropped on client meetings News
Guantanamo lawyers claim US government eavesdropped on client meetings

[JURIST] Lawyers for Guantanamo detainees claim that the US government of has eavesdropped on conversations with their clients [CCR press release], according to court papers filed Tuesday by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) [advocacy website]. The filing came as part of a 2007 Freedom of Information Act lawsuit [case materials; JURIST report] in which lawyers for Guantanamo detainees are seeking documents related to possible monitoring of attorney-client meetings. CCR said in a statement that "These attorneys believe they may have been targeted by the government’s warrantless wiretapping program that began shortly after September 11, 2001 because of their representation of Guantánamo prisoners labeled 'enemy combatants' by the government. "

The Justice Department refused to comment on the allegations Tuesday, but has said in a March filing that it could neither confirm nor deny that detainees' lawyers had been targets of such surveillance. The New York Times has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

US suffragists formed Equal Rights Party, named Presidential candidate

On September 20, 1884, a group of American suffragists formed the Equal Rights Party in San Francisco, dedicated to "equal and exact justice to every class of our citizens, without distinction of color, sex, or nationality" and in support of the proposition that "the laws of the several states be so amended that women will be recognized as voters, and their property-rights made equal with that of the male population, to the end that they may become self-supporting - rather than a dependent class." Read the full text of the first platform of the Equal Rights Party. The party immediately nominated Mrs. Belva Lockwood for US President and Marietta Snow for Vice-President. Grover Cleveland won that election, but Lockwood was included in a number of presidential primaries and is recorded to have won some 4149 votes from the male voters of the time.

Catholic Church tries Galileo for heresy

On September 20, 1633, the Roman Catholic Church tried Galileo Galilei on charges of heresy. Galileo was brought before the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith for his assertion that the Earth orbits the Sun. He was sentenced to spend the rest of his life under house arrest. Read documents from the trial of Galileo.

Suffragists formed Equal Rights Party, named Presidential candidate

On September 20, 1884, a group of suffragists formed the Equal Rights Party in San Francisco, dedicated to "equal and exact justice to every class of our citizens, without distinction of color, sex, or nationality" and in support of the proposition that "the laws of the several states be so amended that women will be recognized as voters, and their property-rights made equal with that of the male population, to the end that they may become self-supporting - rather than a dependent class."
Read the full text of the first platform of the Equal Rights Party.

The party immediately nominated Mrs. Belva Lockwood for US President and Marietta Snow for Vice-President. Grover Cleveland won that election, but Lockwood was included in a number of presidential primaries, and is recorded to have won some 4149 votes from the male voters of the time.