Stewart Verdict Threatens Lawyers, Undermines 6th Amendment.
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, cell 202-487-0693, mclarty@greens.org
Nancy Allen, Media Coordinator, 207-326-4576, nallen@acadia.net
The Bush
Administration is exploiting the 9/11 attacks to undermine constitutional protections and freedoms,
access to information, and the rule of law.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Green Party leaders called the February 10 verdict in the Lynne Stewart trial a devastating blow to due process and the right to legal representation and a deliberate threat to lawyers who seek to represent unpopular clients. Greens see the verdict as part of the dramatic erosion of constitutional law under the Bush Administration.
"The Stewart verdict will intimidate any lawyer who represents a client who is critical of U.S. government policies and actions," said Gloria Mattera, co-chair of the Green Party of New York State. "The basis of our legal system is vigorous and effective defense for anyone accused of a crime -- including those charged with terrorism -- and limitations on the power of prosecutors and other law enforcement officials. It's clear that Osama bin Laden was used to prejudice the jury against a lawyer who worked for a controversial client."
As the National Lawyers Guild has noted, former Attorney General John Ashcroft's "November 2003 federal superceding indictment [was] a continued attempt to undermine the attorney-client privilege by essentially reinstating the same charges that Judge John Koeltl dismissed as unconstitutionally vague four months earlier."
Greens note that the key evidence used against Ms. Stewart was based on surveillance of attorney-client conversations in May 2000 based on a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant. FISA, enacted under the 1996 Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, allows prosecutors to override the confidentiality of attorney-client communications, thus weakening the 6th Amendment's guarantee of the right to representation by an attorney. In the Stewart case, FISA was used to keep Ms. Stewart's client, Sheik Abdel Rahman, effectively incommunicado.
"We urge the court to overturn the Stewart verdict when it is appealed, and we encourage all Americans who care about constitutional rights to participate in the National Lawyers Guild's 'National Day of Outrage' in response to the verdict," added Nan Garrett, Georgia Green and former criminal defense attorney. (More on the National Day of Outrage: <http://www.nlg.org/news/statements/DayOfOutrageLynne.htm>)
Greens urge all Americans to recognize that the Bush Administration and its supporters are using the 9/11 attacks to undermine freedoms, access to information, and the rule of law, citing recent developments:
-- The CIA's 'extraordinary rendition' program, which sends prisoners to countries like Syria and Egypt that allow torture to extract information; justifications by U.S. officials (including former White House counsel and current Attorney General Alberto Gonzales) for the use of torture and other constitutional violations; detention of citizens without charges and without recourse to courts, lawyers, or family members.
-- Creation of an intelligence service under the authority of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and therefore unaccountable to Congress; a purge in the CIA ranks meant to eliminate officials critical of Bush policy, turning the CIA from an intelligence-gathering agency into a policy arm of the administration.
-- The USA Patriot Act, especially provisions targeting organizations declared 'terrorist' by the Attorney General for expressing unpopular ideas, allowing political repression based on an Attorney General's arbitrary judgement and bias.
-- Harassment and silencing of academics who publish unpopular opinions or teach controversial subjects, some of whom have been forced out of their jobs, most recently Ward Churchill (University of Colorado) and M. Shahid Alam (Northeastern University).
-- Complaints from U.S. scientists that Bush officials are pressuring them to alter scientific findings to conform with the administration's political and ideological goals, including a recent claim from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service scientists that they were directed to alter findings to reduce environmental protections for plants and animals.
MORE INFORMATION:
The Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
1711 18th Street NW
Washington, DC 20009.
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193
National Lawyers Guild http://www.nlg.org/news/statements/LynneStewart0205.htm
Indypendent legal columnist Ann Schneider analyzes the Lynne Stewart case
New York City Independent Media Center, February 11, 2005
http://nyc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/141334/index.php#
Justice for Lynne Stewart http://www.lynnestewart.org/
2004 Cobb/LaMarche Campaign: News on the recount efforts http://www.votecobb.org
