Political Justice Under the Spotlight in Washington
June 27th, 2009
Judge U.W. Clemon criticized The Birmingham News and the Bush Justice Department at The National Press Club
by Glynn Wilson
WASHINGTON, D.C. — One of the most significant problems corrupting American society and politics over the past eight years is finally getting the public spotlight it deserves in the nation’s capital. You can’t run a successful democracy without an honest system of justice that is removed as far as possible from politics, according to a panel of experts who spoke at one of the most venerated institutions in the United States, the National Press Club.
Some of the people who came from as far away as Alaska, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia were a bit disappointed when it was announced that former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman and House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers were not able to make it.
But Elliot Mintzberg, chief counsel for oversight investigations of the House Judiciary Committee, who came in Conyers’ place, insisted that all the investigations are continuing full bore into the politicization of the justice system by the Bush White House and Department of Justice — in spite of a certain camp in Washington who would rather “look forward, not back.”
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| Glynn Wilson |
| House Judiciary Committee investigator Elliot Mintzberg |
He said the investigation into the firings of U.S. attorneys and the improper interference of Bush’s White House staff, including political aide Karl Rove, “is not yet done.”
In response to my direct questions about when Karl Rove will be called to testify and the controversy over whether his testimony will be fully on the record and subject to contempt laws, Mintzberg said a date has been set, but he could not reveal it. He insisted the committee will fully probe Rove on the record in a transcribed deposition that will make him subject to perjury if he lies to Congress. He insisted the deposition will be released to the public when the time comes just like the testimony of other witnesses, including Alabama attorney Jill Simpson’s, who made the trip to Washington for the forum. And he said that might very well lead to public hearings.
Mintzberg said investigations are continuing on several fronts.
At the top of the list is the “unprecedented” firings of U.S. attorneys by the Bush administration, including Republican lawyers who refused to investigate Democrats. Political hiring by the Department of Justice is also on the list of investigations, where the right-wing Federalist Society was used to screen candidates instead of professional, career prosecutors.
The committee is also looking at the Bush administration’s torture policies and massive warrantless wiretapping of American citizens with no connection to overseas terrorists.
In direct response to my question, Mintzberg would not confirm a recent report in the New York Times that showed the domestic spying continues “due to classification restrictions.” He said the issue is on the committee’s agenda and “we are very concerned about this.”
The issue of selective prosecutions is also on the list of investigations, where Republican U.S. attorneys prosecuted Democrats and ignored the crimes of Republican office holders, crimes which were far worse in many cases. Abuse by the FBI in issuing national security letters in the so-called “war on terror” is on the list, as well as problems with the Civil Rights division of the Justice Department and the coming fight over the renewal of The Patriot Act.
Then there’s state secrets and CIA renditions of suspects without warrants or due process, which Mintzberg called “one of the biggest disappointments” so far by the Obama administration.
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| Glynn Wilson |
| Retired Justice U.W. Clemon at the National Press Club |
Retired Chief U.S. District Judge U.W. Clemon of Birmingham, the first African-American federal judge in Alabama and one of the first in the South, said in his remarks to the press club and in an interview that while in his life he has faced down the likes of Bull Conner as a college student, Paul “Bear” Bryant as a civil rights lawyer, and George Wallace as a state senator, nothing can compare to the abuses of people’s rights that occurred during the Bush years. He indicated that his home town newspaper, The Birmingham News, has always been on the wrong side of history in the fights for justice.
After seeing the sometimes tragic results of unwarranted prosecutions in police brutality cases in Birmingham during the height of the civil rights struggle, Clemon said:
“I believe with every fiber in my body that when the awesome power of the greatest nation on god’s green earth is brought to bear against an individual or a group of citizens, there ought to be ample grounds for their prosecution.”
He said in most of the cases he oversaw as a trial judge in 30 years on the federal bench the government satisfied him that was the case, until the year 2000, when President George W. Bush took over the White House. Up to that time it mattered not whether a U.S. attorney was a Republican or a Democrat and in all cases there was at least “some evidence,” he said.
But that was not the case in U.S. Attorney Alice Martin’s attempt at the political prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman, which he called “a glaring exception to the general rule.”
Clemon accused Martin of going on a “shopping spree” for a Republican judge to oversee the case against Siegelman, and he said Martin had another judge appointed by a Democratic president, a second cousin of Gov. Bob Riley, recuse himself “in a symbiotic relationship with The Birmingham News.”
That’s when the “fickle hand of fate” and the court’s random selection process chose him, which prompted a series of articles and editorials from The Birmingham News trying to get him to disqualify himself from the case. In his talk he detailed the paper’s attacks on him in trying to get him to recuse himself in hearing the original case against Siegelman. He said the paper’s management, editors and reporters tried to taint the jury pool against Siegelman had there been a full trial. As one example, he said the News accused him of being a crony of Siegelman, even though they were in different factions of the Democratic Party — and Siegelman’s faction did not support his nomination to the federal bench.
“So publicly, our relationship was something less than a mutual admiration society,” he said. “Privately, we didn’t know each other.”
Then Martin’s attempt failed to get the Eleventh U.S. Circuit of Appeals in Atlanta to remove him from the case.
After reviewing the charges against Siegelman, which alleged a conspiracy, Clemon held a hearing and heard testimony from a number of witnesses who said there was no conspiracy. He ruled the government failed to provide substantial proof of a conspiracy, of a quid pro quo, and the case was dismissed “with prejudice.” But that did not stop the Bush Justice Department from bringing another case in Montgomery.
Clemon said he recently talked to President Barack Obama’s Attorney General Eric Holder after writing a letter to him asking for an investigation into Siegelman’s prosecution, and he said Holder assured him there would be a “full investigation” by the Obama Justice Department.
Other speakers at the conference include Harper’s magazine contributor Scott Horton; Charles “Champ” Walker, son of Georgia Senate Majority Leader Charles Walker; former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz, twice acquitted in prosecutions that imprisoned trial lawyer Paul Minor; Puerto Rico State Senate Minority Whip Eduardo Bhatia (D), representing acquitted former Gov. Anibal Acevedo; Alliance for Justice President Nan Aron; Project Save Justice Executive Director Gail Sistrunk, discussing the group’s video, “The Political Prosecutions of Karl Rove”; Investigative reporter Andrew Kreig; and McClendon Group President John Hurley.
You can now watch most of the conference on C-SPAN here…
Tags: Alabama Governor Don Siegelman, Bush White House, Elliot Mintzberg, firings of U.S. attorneys, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Judge U.W. Clemon, Karl Rove, National Press Club, politicization of justice, selective prosecution, warrantless wiretapping
June 27th, 2009 at 9:50 am
We will run more photos and deal with the other speakers and stories from the around the country in the not too distant future, but for now, it’s time for a proper DC lunch and a little site seeing before we head back to Alabamaland…
June 27th, 2009 at 10:08 am
Great reporting from DC, Glynn. Naturally, nothing like this is appearing in the mainstream media here. When Siegelman is finally cleared, as I am confident he will be, the mainstreamers here will wake up suddenly, clueless or worse, and then mis-report it.
June 28th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
The Birmingham News, Mobile Press Register and AP reporter from Alabama signed up on the conference roll, but I only saw the Mobile guy there for part of it. He pulled Elliot Mincberg aside in the hall, and left…
So far no indication of a story, not that I would chase it. It ain’t on no blog or e-mail list that I know of…
June 28th, 2009 at 11:33 pm
This just in from a reader in LA California on Pam’s List:
I really liked everything I read here until I got to the part where Eric Holder assured Judge Clemons there would be a full investigation by the Obama Justice Department. “Would be” is eating up Don’s life and his resources. This isn’t like waiting for cookies to come out of the oven. This is the life of a decent, innocent man…a great man…and his family. Haven’t they been through enough? Haven’t they sacrificed enough?
Come on, Eric Holder, time’s a-wastin’. Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick.
Our group should have been celebrating Governor Siegelman’s exoneration a long time ago and then we could have moved on to devote our energy more fully to Paul Minor and other Democratic political targets. (Hey, if there are any decent Republican targets, I’d be happy to work for them, too!)
Today I went to a swearing-in ceremony for my City Councilman, and I listened carefully to the oath the judge administered. Part of the commitment Councilman Rosendahl made referred to upholding the Constitution of the United States. I would hate to think that my local city official takes that oath more seriously than the top law enforcement official in the country.
I understand that Eric Holder hasn’t been in his current position all that long, and I know that he has plenty of crucial issues to deal with. But justice delayed IS justice denied, and it’s time to stop denying justice to Governor Siegelman.
I don’t want to harbor cynical thoughts about this Obama Administration, but the more they stonewall on justice for Don Siegelman, the harder it is to come up with a positive interpretation of their actions. For me, a bigger tragedy than having Obama end up as a one-term president would be not caring in the least if he actually becomes one.
Contact Eric Holder (202) 514-2001; fax: (202) 307-6777; E-mail: AskDOJ@usdoj.gov
MARILYN NOYES
June 29th, 2009 at 3:59 am
John Conyers’ wife Monica, a Detroit City Council member, last week pleaded guilty to felony bribery. She got paid for a vote on a big city contract. Conyers is 80 years old (she’s 45) and while the guilty plea should not affect Conyers politically it’s got to be a real punch to him (they’ve got a kid in college and a kid in prep school). She’s probably going to prison. If Conyers had been presiding at the National Press Club event, laying things out like he does so well, the event probably would have been major news. Was it even mentioned in the Washington Post, NYTimes, TV news? What lousy bad luck and timing.
June 29th, 2009 at 6:00 am
It was picked up on C-SPAN, Ivan, and should be picked up by bloggers all over the country. If Siegelman had stayed, instead of coming back to B’ham. ostensibly to be around for the filing of a motion by Scrushy’s lawyers, he could have had a 45-minute presentation on every liberal blog in the country — along with his appeal fund raising pitch.
When are the people of Alabama going to learn that the Web Press is what matters now — not the aged ink and paper dead tree edition.
And once again, the Alabama lawyers just give the story to the same old AP hack, which as far as the Washington Post is concerned, is the gospel on the Siegelman case in their archives. Convicted by a jury of peers? Right. How about convicted by a corrupt federal judge?
Any reporter with half a brain who ever spent any time covering a courthouse knows judges have an awesome amount of power to influence the outcome of cases. For some reason, this continues to escape the attention of the Alabama bureau of AP and the Newhouse press…
June 29th, 2009 at 6:01 am
I just don’t believe this could be true.
June 29th, 2009 at 7:23 am
Also, before I forget to mention it, there was quite a bit of discussion on the future of the Web Press in the National Press Club bar over a few Yuengling Porters.
I suspect you will begin to see other reporters pick up this term and start to use it. Our Constitution and all of the civil law precedent in this country protects the rights of “the press,” not bloggers. The radio and broadcast news folks have been included in some of this over the past half a century or so, but what will become of our Constitutional protections over the next half a century?
If left up to the corporate, chain newspaper managers, they would apparently try to keep the First Amendment all to themselves and their ink and paper editions. This is a mistake for the future of democracy.
Then again, the bloggers who foster a culture of anonymity are so far mostly part of the problem, not the solution.
One more educational note: For the people who think this interface appears “small time” alongside The New York Times or Washington Post, it might be worth noting that if you compare the news you can get here to what you can get there, and consider the relative budgets, it should scare the hell out of the corporate news managers.
I’ll put this site and my journalism up against the Anniston Star any day, or for that matter the New York Times. It’s not the name that matters. It’s the news judgment and how well it serves up information to readers.
To do an online news”paper”, you don’t need to buy expensive ink, massive rolls of paper, or pay delivery truck drivers.
If you lop off that entire print part of the budget and just put the money in news gathering, writing, photography and video, in the not too distant future we will be able to create online news organizations that cover the news BETTER than any newspaper ever did.
The problem is that the people stuck in the old print culture do not have the imagination to understand this…
June 29th, 2009 at 8:40 am
This just in from Andrew Kreig in DC:
Attached below is an update on news coverage so far on the June 26 forum at the National Press Club on selective federal prosecutions on a political basis, and an invitation to your readers to suggest next steps. My suggestions are below.
The entire conference was shown for its duration of 3 hours, 15 minutes on C-SPAN 3 live, then rebroadcast on C-SPAN 1. It is available online at (via SNIP URL for easier reading): http://snipurl.com/l3gpm.
C-SPAN made a big investment in time and resources to air this. To make the most of this, those with websites should repost the link and send a brief thank you email to C-SPAN at: viewer@c-span.org.
Regarding news coverage, attached is a running list of news articles relevant to the forum and its subject matter. To keep it current, please send me the link to any significant additional articles or blogs. My apologies if I’ve missed any so far.
Best regards,
Andrew Kreig
Washington, DC
Justice Department Prosecutorial Misconduct: How Bad & What’s Next?
Friday, June 26, National Press Club, Washington, DC
8:10 a.m.
Introduction, John Edward Hurley, President, Sarah McClendon Group at National Press Club
8:20 a.m.
National Overview, Agenda for the Day & Introduction of First Speaker
Andrew Kreig, Journalist, Author & Attorney
Scott Horton, Harper’s Columnist, Attorney and Hofstra University Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law
8:40 a.m.
View from Congress
Elliot M. Minceberg, Majority Counsel, U.S. House Judiciary Committee Nan Aron, President, Legal Director, Alliance for Justice, Introduction
9:25 a.m.
View from the Bench
Hon. U.W. Clemon, Shareholder, White, Arnold & Dowd, former Chief U.S. District Judge, Alabama’s Northern District (1981-2009)
9:55 a.m.
National Plan for Community Action
Charles “Champ” Walker, Jr., business executive and son of imprisoned former George State Sen. Majority Leader Charles Walker, Sr., owner of the Walker Group and Augusta Focus
10:15 a.m.
Report Card On Legal, Congressional and Media Oversight of the Justice Department, Scott Horton, Harper’s Columnist, Attorney and Hofstra Visiting Professor of Law; Moderator
Bruce Fein, former Reagan Administration FCC General Counsel and Constitutional Expert; Bill Yeomans, Legal Director, Alliance for Justice; Cliff Arnebeck, Chair, Legal Affairs Committee, Common Cause Ohio and National Co-Chair, Alliance for Democracy.
10:45 a.m.
Faces of the Accused
Former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Oliver E. Diaz, Jr. twice acquitted on tax and corruption charges; Puerto Rico State Senator & Minority Whip Eduardo Bhatia (D) representing acquitted former Gov. Anibal Acevedo
Gail Sistrunk; Executive Director, Project Save Justice (Producers of the documentary, “Political Prosecutions of Karl Rove”)
News Coverage Summary
Core Material
C-SPAN 1 and 3 (3 hours, 15 minutes), Available via web (SNIP URL: http://snipurl.com/l3gpm)
“The Political Prosecutions of Karl Rove” video documentary by Project Save Justice http://www.politicalprosecutions.org
After Downing Street, “Our Political Prisoners: Live Blogging,” David Swanson http://afterdowningstreet.org/node/43945
News and Commentary
June 28
Daily Kos, “Political Prosecutions Hit the National Spotlight,” Roger Shuler:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/6/28/204618/697
Legal Schnauzer, “Political Prosecutions Hit the National Spotlight,” Roger Shuler: http://legalschnauzer.blogspot.com/2009/06/political-prosecutions-hit-national.html
June 27
Jackson Clarion-Ledger, “Diaz: Step Up the Probe of Political Cases,” Deborah Barfield Berry: http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20090627/NEWS/906270331/1001/NEWS/Diaz–Step-up-probe-of–political–cases
Locust Fork News-Journal, “Political Justice Under the Spotlight in Washington,” Glynn Wilson: http://blog.locustfork.net/2009/06/27/political-justice-undert-the-spotlight-in-washington/
Justice Department Misconduct Conference in DC June 26
June 26
After Downing Street, “Live Blogging National Press Club Forum on Republican Party Takeover of Justice Department,” David Swanson, http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/43938
American Chronicle, ”Our Political Prisoners,” David Swanson:
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/107760
A and National Press Club: DOJ Misconduct Presser – Footage
Courthouse News Service, “Bush DoJ Hunted for Democrats, Panel Finds,” Nick Wilson: http://www.courthousenews.com/2009/06/26/Bush_DOJ_Hunted_for_Democrats_Panel_Finds.htm
Democratics.com, “Our Political Prisoners,” David Swanson: http://www.democrats.com/node/19772
ElitesTV, “Our Political Prisoners,” David Swanson: http://elitestv.com/pub/2009/06/today’s-press-conference-on-our-rogue-doj-david-swanson’s-blog
Harper’s, “Did a Bush Justice Figure Obstruct the Renzi Investigation?” Scott Horton:
http://www.harpers.org/subjects/NoComment
Locust Fork News-Journal, “Justice Department Misconduct Conference,” Glynn Wilson:
http://blog.locustfork.net/2009/06/24/justice-department-misconduct-conference-in-dc-june-26/
OpEd News, “Siegelman, Minor and Other Targeted Democrats Were Not Forgotten in Washington Today,” Marilyn Noyes: http://www.opednews.com/articles/Siegelman-Minor-and-other-by-Marilyn-Noyes-090626-973.html
June 25
Harper’s,”Political Prosecutions in the Bush Era: A Forum,” Scott Horton:
http://www.harpers.org/subjects/NoComment
Legal Schnauzer, “The Cheating of Don Siegelman: Part II,” Roger Shuler: http://legalschnauzer.blogspot.com/2009/06/cheating-of-don-siegelman-part-ii.html
Mike Malloy Radio Show, syndicated nationally from Los Angeles
News from Underground, “More on Tomorrow’s Press Conference,” Mark Crispin Miller: http://markcrispinmiller.com/2009/06/more-on-tomorrows-press-conference.html
OpEd News, “Major Forum,” (June 25, 2009)
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Update-on-Major-Forum-June-by-Andrew-Kreig-090625-685.html
News Blaze, “Major Forum June 26 on Selective DoJ Prosecution to Feature Victims & Rep. Conyers on June 26 in DC,” http://newsblaze.com/story/2009062514070200002.pnw/topstory.html
PR Newswire, “Major Forum June 26 On Selective DoJ Prosecution To Feature Victims”
USA Today, “Major Forum June 26 On Selective DoJ Prosecution To Feature Victims,” http://content.usatoday.com/topics/article/People/Politicians,+Government+Officials,+Strategists/U.S.+Senators/Ted+Stevens/038o5VO7VXcNh/2
June 24
Jackson Clarion-Ledger, “Diaz Sues Ex-U.S. Attorney,” Jimmie E. Gates, http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20090624/NEWS/9062
Legal Schnauzer, “The Cheating of Don Siegelman: Part I,” Roger Shuler: http://legalschnauzer.blogspot.com/2009/06/cheating-of-don-siegelman-part-i.html
Locust Fork News-Journal, “Justice Department Misconduct Conference in DC June 26,” Glynn Wilson, http://blog.locustfork.net/
June 29th, 2009 at 8:46 am
A constitutional problem that has yet to be fully resolved is what exactly does “freedom of the press” mean?
The root of that is, of course, that the founders had no idea of what was coming down the road with broadcast media and now the internet. “The press” was the only means of mass communication in 1790, so that’s how the Bill of Rights reads.
When radio had become a big deal in the mid 1920s, Congress essentially nationalized the industry, creating first the Federal Radio Commission and then its successor the Federal Communications Commission.
I use the term “nationalized” because, instead of treating radio frequencies as property, rightfully owned by the developers, Congress decided to treat frequencies as a “national resource” subject to bureaucratic control and management.
Ostensibly, this was for the “public good,” but some of the net effects have been anti-democratic. For instance, you cannot simply go out and find an unused frequency and start broadcasting on it. You have to apply for a license, or buy an existing one. And then, once you’re up and running, you have to run the gamut of renewing your license, meeting whatever political tests are in vogue at the time. Some of those tests involve content – a test that Congress cannot constitutionally impose on print media.
Although many on the left cannot see it, the nationalization of broadcasting virtually guarantees that broadcast media will be controlled by big corporations, given the need to be licensed and re-licensed regularly, and given the Washington special-interest-favoritism environment that has festered for a century or more.
When the internet became a full-blown reality, there were calls to regulate it just like broadcasting. What has happened is somewhere in between no regulation and broadcast-style regulation. Fortunately, the internet developed unregulated just long enough, and has enough similarity to old style printed media, to have escaped, so far, attempts at full-blown control by Congress and the bureaucrats.
At some point, this battle will be rejoined and both left and right will have to decide what is more important: freedom of communication or supposed security for some defined groups of people.
Franklin, giving advice on that subject, opined that a people willing to sacrifice liberties for security end up with neither, it should be noted and remembered.
June 29th, 2009 at 8:58 am
Yes, but broadcasting was over the “public airwaves” and was supposed to operate in the “public interest.” So it should never have been considered “private property.”
Now that TV has gone digital and high def, there may very well open up new opportunities for people to use some of that spectrum for public affairs broadcasting. Public television has certainly taken a beating recently and is not living up to its mandate to educate the public on public affairs. Alabama Public TV can’t even seem to keep the audio working during Bill Moyers’ show…
June 29th, 2009 at 11:18 am
The spectrum is regulated for technical reasons, not political ones. Had we known more in earlier days, it wouldn’t be so polluted now.
June 29th, 2009 at 11:52 am
The technical reason being the public owns the airwaves, the broadcast spectrum.
They don’t own the printing presses, which is why I say, “Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one.”
Of course now a Web printing press needs no ink, or paper : )
June 30th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
[...] motion mentions, as we reported just the other day, that Karl Rove is scheduled to give sworn testimony to the House Judiciary Committee very soon in [...]
July 1st, 2009 at 1:43 pm
[...] even managed to ignore the criticism of them and the Justice Department in Washington, D.C. at the National Press Club. I mean, what gives? Not one word about it in the paper? On the al.com Website? What, do you guys [...]
July 2nd, 2009 at 11:06 pm
[...] WASHINGTON, D.C. — Elliot Mintzberg, chief counsel for oversight investigations of the House Judiciary Committee, answered direct questions from Glynn Wilson, Editor and Publisher of The Locust Fork News-Journal, last Friday at a press conference on corruption in the U.S. justice system. He refused to give a date for former Bush political aide Karl Rove’s interview, but he insisted it would be under oath, subject to perjury and transcribed for public release, and could possibly lead to public hearings — as we reported the other day in the news feature Political Justice Under the Spotlight in Washington. [...]
July 3rd, 2009 at 8:52 am
He said the investigation into the firings of U.S. attorneys and the improper interference of Bush’s White House staff, including political aide Karl Rove, “is not yet done.”
He said a mouthful.
If Rove never shows up, then Obama is complicit.
July 3rd, 2009 at 8:58 am
From Dan Froomkin’s last Op-Ed, Washington Post (seen thanks to this blog):
When I look back on the Bush years, I think of the lies. There were so many. Lies about the war and lies to cover up the lies about the war. Lies about torture and surveillance. Lies about Valerie Plame. Vice President Dick Cheney’s lies, criminally prosecutable but for his chief of staff Scooter Libby’s lies. I also think about the extraordinary and fundamentally cancerous expansion of executive power that led to violations of our laws and our principles.
July 31st, 2009 at 9:10 pm
montgomery journal newspaper…
Who says the internet is full of garbage?? Great post, I was searching for montgomery journal newspaper and came across it. Glad I did….