CCR's News Feed

Persecution Is Not a Right

Camilo Ramirez — Mon, 14 May 2012 11:54:57 -0400

"War is peace," "freedom is slavery," "ignorance is strength." Thanks to the religious right, we can update these examples from "1984's" doublespeak to include the idea in 2012 that persecution is liberty. Religious liberty, to be exact, and nowhere is this claim more viciously - and absurdly - manifested than in the insistence by some US Christians that they are being oppressed when others try to keep them from bullying, discriminating against and sometimes literally hounding lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people to death.

Reform Stop-and-Frisk

Camilo Ramirez — Wed, 16 May 2012 11:46:24 -0400

Judge Shira Scheindlin of Federal District Court spoke up for the constitutional rights of blacks and Hispanics on Wednesday by granting class-action status to a lawsuit that accuses the New York Police Department of using race as the basis for stopping and frisking hundreds of thousands of citizens a year.

Can Obama Say He's Sorry?

Camilo Ramirez — Wed, 23 May 2012 12:27:22 -0400

Can the President say he’s sorry to an innocent man whom the United States delivered to Syria to be tortured? Sixty thousand Americans have done so, signing a petition that begins, “I apologize to Maher Arar for the torture he suffered because of the actions of US officials and I urge you to do the same.”

Privatized Torture

Camilo Ramirez — Fri, 11 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400

On Friday, May 11, 2012, a federal appellate court ruled that private military contractors allegedly complicit in torture at Abu Ghraib aren’t immune from prosecution. In post 9/11 America, that counts as a significant victory for the rule of law.

Obama Might Want to Look Forward in 2012, but America's Torture Legacy Will Keep Staring Back

Camilo Ramirez — Fri, 18 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400

In 2002, Maher Arar was stopped while on a layover at John F. Kennedy International Airport on his way home to Canada. US officials detained Arar for two weeks and then told him that, based on classified evidence, they were sending him to Syria instead of letting him return home to Canada. In Syria, he was tortured and detained in an underground cell - three feet wide, six feet long and seven feet high - for nearly a year. During the first two weeks, he was subject to intense beatings, whipped on his back and hands with an electrical cable, and interrogated. Arar was eventually released without ever being charged with a crime.

Judge Grants Class-Action Status to Stop-and-Frisk Suit

Camilo Ramirez — Thu, 17 May 2012 12:12:15 -0400

A federal judge on Wednesday granted class-action status to a lawsuit challenging the New York Police Department’s stop-and-frisk tactics, saying she was disturbed by the city’s “deeply troubling apathy towards New Yorkers’ most fundamental constitutional rights.”

Christian Persecution in the 21st century: A Call of Conscience to Defend the Lives of LGBT People Worldwide

Camilo Ramirez — Wed, 16 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Two weeks ago the United Methodist General Conference reaffirmed 40 years of anti-gay prejudice, voting to continue to bar lesbian and gay people from ministry and marriage while faithful gay United Methodists had to endure speeches accusing them of bestiality, calling them drug dealers, and worse.

The NYPD's Criminal Stop-and-Frisk Record

Camilo Ramirez — Tue, 15 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Last week, the New York Police Department released quarterly data on its stop-and-frisk program. The numbers are worse than ever, and they confirm everything that is wrong with this practice.

Bradley Manning: a Show Trial of State Secrecy

Camilo Ramirez — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 12:58:49 -0400

CCR President Michael Ratner discusses Bradley Manning's April 24 hearing in one of the most important court martial cases in decades. The accused faces life in prison for the 22 charges against him, which include "aiding the enemy" and "transmitting defense information".

Lawyer for victims of CIA drone strikes in Pakistan again denied entry to US

Camilo Ramirez — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0400

A lawyer representing civilian victims of drone strikes in Pakistan has accused the US government of blocking his appearance at a conference in Washington this month by failing to grant him a visa.

Why the U.S. Government Must Release Information on al-Majalah Killings

Camilo Ramirez — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:27:41 -0400

CCR Executive Director Vince Warren explains that the CIA and Pentagon maintain lists of suspected terrorists to be targeted for killing and have these "kill lists" approved only by an internal executive process.

Shedding Light on the Secret Pre-Trial of Bradley Manning

Camilo Ramirez — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:01:47 -0400

With the threat of life in prison and the ideal of government transparency looming heavily in the background, Pfc. Bradley Manning's hired defense attorney and attorneys representing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange pressed the military court to release key discovery evidence, legal documents and motions in the case against Manning as pre-trial hearings were held at Fort Meade in Maryland this week.

Judge Rules La. Sex Law Violates Offenders' Rights

Camilo Ramirez — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 15:59:58 -0400

A Louisiana law violates the constitutional rights of people who were required to register as sex offenders after they were convicted of soliciting oral or anal sex for money, a federal judge ruled Thursday, March 29.

Ugandan Gay Rights Group Sues American Evangelist

Camilo Ramirez — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 13:02:42 -0400

A Ugandan gay rights group filed suit against an American evangelist, Scott Lively, in federal court in Massachusetts, accusing him of violating international law by inciting the persecution of homosexuals in Uganda.

Activists Sue U.S. Evangelical Pastor Over Gay Rights Grievances

Camilo Ramirez — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 16:29:10 -0400

The Center for Constitutional Rights filed suit against Scott Lively, a pastor from Springfield, Mass., who went to Uganda and visited with policymakers there in the months before the "Kill the Gays" bill was first introduced.

From Prejudice to Persecution: Some on the Religious Right Have Crossed the Line in the Anti-gay Crusade

Camilo Ramirez — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 15:10:54 -0400

CCR Executive Director Vince Warren claims that what white American evangelicals are doing in Africa by talking to political and religious leaders about anti-gay legislation is the same thing they're doing in the U.S.: cynically pitting communities of color against LGBT communities.

Vince Warren MSNBC on Human Rights and Corporate Responsibility

Qaid Jacobs — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 14:29:24 -0500

Ugandan Group Sues Anti-Gay Pastor In US

Camilo Ramirez — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 16:14:22 -0400

Sexual Minorities Uganda filed a lawsuit against minister Scott Lively, under a statute that the group says allows non-citizens to launch US court actions for violations of international law.The Center for Constitutional Rights filed the suit on behalf of Sexual Minorities Uganda.

Correspondence: The Center for Constitutional Rights vs. Jack Goldsmith

Camilo Ramirez — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 14:48:07 -0400

In a correspondence between Jack Goldsmith and CCR Legal Director Baher Azmy, Professor Goldsmith credits Michael Ratner and the Center for Constitutional Rights for initiating—and consistently sustaining—challenges to the Bush Administration’s Guantanamo Bay detention and torture practices, while suggesting that Ratner and CCR may be experiencing regret about the ultimate outcome of its campaign.

Uganda Gay Group Sues US Minister Over Anti-Gay Bill

Camilo Ramirez — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 16:05:59 -0400

The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed a complaint in federal court on behalf of Sexual Minorities Uganda against US minister Scott Lively, accusing him of involvement in a campaign to persecute gay people in Uganda.

Uganda's Gays See Progress In Public Opinion War

Camilo Ramirez — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 15:44:56 -0400

Four years ago Frank Mugisha begged his colleagues to join him for his first demonstration in support of gay rights in Uganda. Only four came along. This week, during a march against gender-based violence led by the gay advocacy group Sexual Minorities Uganda, the Ugandan activist saw more than 30 colleagues walk the streets of Kampala holding pro-gay posters.

An Executive Power to Kill?

Camilo Ramirez — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 12:36:55 -0500

According to Attorney General Eric Holder, the President of the United States can order the killing of US citizens, far from any battlefield, without charges, a trial, or any form of advance judicial approval. David Cole, Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center, and board member of the Center for Constitutional Rights, explores the implications of this executive power to kill.

NYPD's Stop and Frisk Practice Needs Reform

Camilo Ramirez — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 17:09:02 -0400

Jumaane D. Williams, NYC Council Member of the 45th Council District, discusses the need for reform in the NYPD's stop-and-frisk practice.

NYC Ordered To Pay Up To $128 mln In Firefighter Case

Camilo Ramirez — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 12:20:42 -0500

U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis ruled that New York City could be on the hook for as much as $128.7 million in a lawsuit alleging it used a racially discriminatory test to evaluate candidates for the New York City Fire Department.

Scott Lively, U.S. Pastor, Wages Uganda Anti-Gay Effort, Lawsuit Alleges

Camilo Ramirez — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 17:00:02 -0400

An East African gay advocacy group filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against a Massachusetts evangelist, alleging he has waged a decade-long campaign to persecute gays in Uganda. The Center for Constitutional Rights filed the suit on behalf of Sexual Minorities Uganda under the Alien Tort Statue.

The Question Before the US Supreme Court in Kiobel v Shell

Camilo Ramirez — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 14:33:02 -0500

Peter Weiss, Vice President of the Center for Constitutional Rights discusses Kiobel v Royal Dutch Petroleum, in which a group of Nigerians claim that they or their relatives have been the victims of torture, summary execution and other crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Nigerian government with the active collaboration of the oil company.

NDAA Does Not Comply With Constitution

Camilo Ramirez — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:53:12 -0500

Shayana Kadidal, the senior managing attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, speaks with Homeland Security NewsWire’s executive editor Eugene K. Chow; Kadidal discusses the legal challenges of closing Guantanamo Bay, the legal consequences of the recently passed National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), and the Obama administration’s position on transferring detainees.

Should Corporations Have More Leeway To Kill Than People Do?

Camilo Ramirez — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 14:22:38 -0500

Peter Weiss, Vice President of the Center for Constitutional Rights, discusses an upcoming Supreme Court case with many potential ramifications for American and international law, and for corporate responsibility for human rights around the globe. The justices will be asked to decide whether the corporations to which they have been extending the rights of individuals should also be held accountable for crimes against human rights, just as individuals are.

Supreme Court to Weigh Torture Lawsuits Against Corporations

Camilo Ramirez — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 16:03:18 -0500

Two years ago, the Supreme Court said corporations were like people and had the same free-speech rights to spend unlimited sums on campaigns ads. Now, in a major test of human rights law, the justices will decide whether corporations are like people when they are sued for aiding foreign regimes that kill or torture their own people.

ACLU Sues To Force Release Of Drone Attack Records

Camilo Ramirez — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:13:52 -0500

The American Civil Liberties Union asked a federal court Wednesday to force the Obama administration to release records related to the killing of U.S. citizens in drone attacks in Yemen last year.

The Scandal of Michigan's Emergency Managers

Camilo Ramirez — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:28:10 -0500

Multiple efforts are under way to rid Michigan of PA 4. The first is a lawsuit brought in June 2011 by the Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice and the Center for Constitutional Rights challenging the law under the state Constitution. Representative John Conyers is pursuing the issue through the Justice Department, arguing that the law’s impact on minority populations may violate the Voting Rights Act.

Can Corps Accused of Abetting Torture Abroad Be Sued in U.S. Courts?

Camilo Ramirez — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 15:43:39 -0500

On Tuesday, February 28, the Supreme Court will hear a challenge brought by 12 Nigerian plaintiffs who say a Shell oil subsidiary aided and abetted acts of murder, rape and systematic torture by the Nigerian government in the early 1990s

At issue is whether corporations can be sued in U.S. courts for violations of human rights committed abroad.

Federal Court to Decide Whether Former Abu Ghraib Prisoners Can Sue U.S. Contractors for Damages

Camilo Ramirez — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:00:28 -0500

Eight years after the release of shocking photographs depicting detainee abuse in Iraq's famed Abu Ghraib prison, a federal appeals court in Virginia is grappling with whether former Iraqi prisoners can bring a civil suit against U.S.-based contractors.

NYPD's Stop-and-Frisks Reach Record Highs

Camilo Ramirez — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:23:55 -0500

The NYPD conducted 684,330 stops in 2011, the highest number on record since the City Council started collecting stop-and-frisk data in 2002. Darius Charney of the Center for Constitutional Rights, which is suing the city and police department for racially profiling individuals during stop-and-frisks, said data from the lawsuit shows the crime suspect race was unknown in nearly 40 percent of all crime complaints made to the NYPD in 2009 and 2010.

The Right Thing To Do

Camilo Ramirez — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 15:12:14 -0500

Vince Warren, Executive Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, discusses how the Alien Tort Statute often provides the only way for a victim of human rights abuses committed abroad to see justice. In upholding the use of this tool for the last three decades, the U.S. court system has sent one resounding message: if you come here, operate here, work here and you have committed horrific acts, like torture, genocide and other crimes against humanity elsewhere, you can be held liable for those crimes here.

Stop-And-Frisks At All-Time High

Camilo Ramirez — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:15:56 -0500

New data released by the New York City Police Department shows that police stopped and frisked more people in 2011 than any other year in history. The police tactic has long been criticized as racial profiling by organizations like the New York Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights.

The Constitution Versus Ray Kelly

Camilo Ramirez — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 15:06:09 -0500

What has now become a national story is the Associated Press's month-long investigations, including internal NYPD documents, that reveal the extent to which Ray Kelly's Intelligence Division in alliance with the CIA (forbidden by law to engage in domestic surveillance) is monitoring and infiltrating ethnic (especially Muslim) groups without any evidence of wrongdoing. Also, in black and Latino neighborhoods, monitoring bars, cafes, bookstores, and nightclubs.

Time To Stop The NYPD's 'Stop-and-Frisk'

Camilo Ramirez — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 16:28:31 -0500

'Stop-and-frisk', an American epidemic, has become acceptable by local police forces to view black and Latino males in inner cities as criminals first, and as citizens maybe. According to records, stop-and-frisk has not decreased crime. The New York Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights have been documenting this for years.

10 Years Later, Guantánamo Represents Obama’s Failed Promise

Camilo Ramirez — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:49:31 -0500

CCR Legal Director, Baher Azmy, elaborates on President Obama’s biggest failed promise: how after 10 years since the prison camp opened, and three years after Obama pledged to close it, Guantánamo goes on.

Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act Threatens Activism

Camilo Ramirez — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:11:02 -0500

Will Potter, an independent journalist who specializes in the topic of eco-terrorism, says the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act classification of activists as terrorists threatens to end activism, in part to stem corporate profit loss.

Congress Should Close Guantánamo

Camilo Ramirez — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:41:43 -0500

CCR Executive Director, Vince Warren, explains the importance and need of closing Guantánamo, before its travesty of justice continues into another decade.

Gitmo: 10 Years Of Injustice And Disgrace

Camilo Ramirez — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:46:37 -0500

On the tenth anniversary of Guantanamo bay detention center, CCR Executive Director, Vince Warren, discusses a decade of injustice and disgrace, emphasizing the importance of closing the detention center.

NY Lawsuit: Public Release of Guantanamo Detainee Video Could Alter Anti-Terrorism Debate

Camilo Ramirez — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:33:06 -0500

A lawsuit filed Monday seeks to force the U.S. government to make public the videotapes of harsh interrogation carried out on Mohammed al-Qahtani. Lawyers for the Center for Constitutional Rights said the videos have been seen by attorneys for Mohammed al-Qahtani but cannot be shown to the public because they are classified.

Guantánamo: Still A Part Of America's Conscience, A Decade On

Camilo Ramirez — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:45:19 -0500

Guantanamo remains a part of America’s conscience ten years later. Despite Obama’s promises, some 171 inmates remain at Guantanamo bay after 600 were released. Only six detainees were ever convicted.

Notes From a Guantánamo Survivor

Camilo Ramirez — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 13:05:56 -0500

Five years after his release, and near the tenth anniversary of the opening of Guantánamo Bay detention center, CCR client Murat Kurnaz, and author of “Five Years of My Life: An Innocent Man in Guantánamo,” shares his experiences and wonders how it is possible that a democratic government can detain people in intolerable conditions and without a fair trial.

Lawsuit Seeks Disclosure of Guantánamo Interrogation Videos

Camilo Ramirez — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:59:58 -0500

A legal group filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit on Monday asking that videotapes showing the interrogation of a terror detainee at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, be made public.

Guantánamo at 10: The Defeat Of Liberty By Fear

Camilo Ramirez — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:48:40 -0500

CCR President, Michael Ratner, discusses Guantanamo's 10th anniversary and the deterioration of civil and human rights in post-9/11 America, and the breakdown of a body politic that occurs when a country attacks its own constitution in the name of defending it.

Federal Immigration Enforcement Is Mandatory, Memo Says

Camilo Ramirez — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 12:56:29 -0500

Two years after the Secure Communities immigration enforcement program was implemented, federal officials determined that choices available to local law enforcement agencies that wished to decline or limit their participation would be "streamlined" or "eliminated," making the information-sharing program mandatory, according to a memo recently made public.

What's Next for Gitmo, Detainees and U.S. Handling of Terror Suspects?

Camilo Ramirez — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 11:22:17 -0500

'Tortured' Guantánamo Bay Prisoner Seeks Release of Secret Videos

Camilo Ramirez — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:55:06 -0500

A new federal lawsuit seeks to force the U.S. government to make public “extremely disturbing” videotapes of a Saudi national, Mohammed al-Qahtani, whose abuse at the Guantanamo Bay prison has been called “torture” by a former Bush administration official.The suit comes 10 years after the first prisoners in the United States’ global war on terror arrived at the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba.

Florida Legislature Drops Anti-Videotaping Language

Camilo Ramirez — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:01:48 -0500

The Florida legislature has dropped a controversial provision that would have made it a crime to photograph or videotape on agricultural facilities without consent.

Guantánamo: Ten Years and Counting

Camilo Ramirez — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 16:34:14 -0500

On January 11 it will have been a decade since the first of the men we once called “the worst of the worst” were brought to Guantánamo Bay. In the intervening years much has improved but Guantánamo is a deeper problem today than it ever was. No longer a temporary exception, it has become a permanent fixture in our national firmament.