While human rights and open-government groups are generally pleased with President Barack Obama's rhetoric during his first 100 days, some are skeptical that he will deliver on his promises. Caroline Fredrickson, head of the Washington Legislative Office for the...
A coalition of 19 human rights, faith-based and justice organizations is calling on President Barack Obama to investigate torture they charge was sanctioned by the administration of former President George W. Bush. The group, led by the National Religious Campaign...
In what may become a landmark decision, a federal appeals court ruled Monday that the "state secrets privilege" – routinely used by the government to block lawsuits against its officials – can only be used to contest specific evidence, but not to...
At least three dozen detainees who were held in the CIA's secret prisons overseas appear to be missing – and efforts by human rights organizations to track their whereabouts have been unsuccessful. The story of these "ghost prisoners" was comprehensively...
As the debate heats up over what to do about recent disclosures of widespread abuse of war-on-terror prisoners, the "third branch" of the U.S. government -- the judiciary -- continues to assert its independence from the other two branches -- the executive and the...
Lawyers who reject President Barack Obama's decision not to seek prosecution of officials who may have participated in the torture of terror-suspect prisoners are seeking justice through another avenue: Sanctions against government lawyers who created the...
The Justice Department Thursday released four secret memos used by the George W. Bush administration to justify torture. The memos, produced by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), provided the legal framework for the CIA's use of waterboarding and...
