Additional Issues

The North Carolina Supreme Court heard arguments on November 18 on whether the state's Medical Board can sanction doctors who participate in an execution. The Board forbids physician participation in executiions as a violation of the medical code of ethics. At the same time, North Carolina's death penalty statute requires a physician’s presence at all executions.

Part One (Part Two Follows)
October 9th, 2006

10 days ago, by a vote of 65 to 34, Congress passed the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA). To facilitate the prosecution of detainees that the Bush Administration "disappeared" into secret CIA custody for several years, Congress created a system of justice that is far inferior to that of the federal courts and courts-martial. And not only did Congress give the Administration much of what sought in terms of substandard justice, it also allowed the Administration to pack the bill with a grab-bag of unnecessary and abusive measures.

With 10 separate sections, a few hundred provisions, and thirty-eight pages of fine print, the military commissions bill is complicated and, in a few areas, unclear. Its concrete impact will be assessed in what will no doubt be a long series of court cases that will end up in the Supreme Court.

What follows is a first stab at interpreting the scope and meaning of this exceedingly harmful bill.