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| House Registers Strong Disapproval of Supreme Court Ruling | |
| 2005-07-01 | |
| (CNSNews.com) - The House of Representatives can't undo a troubling Supreme Court ruling, but it can -- and did -- send a message to the states. On Thursday, the House voted 365-33 to condemn the court's Kelo v. City of New London ruling that allows the government to take private property for "economic development." Private homes may be turned over to private commercial developers with "just compensation" -- even if homeowners object, the court said. The Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution specifically states that "private property" shall not "be taken for public use without just compensation." The court's ruling expands the concept of eminent domain beyond "public use." The resolution (H. Res. 340) expressing lawmakers' disapproval of the Kelo ruling was sponsored by Rep. Phil Gingry (R-Ga.), and one lawmaker called it a first step toward restoring basic private property rights. "The unchangeable principle of politics, morality, and common sense is that what's mine is mine and what's yours is yours," Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) said. "What the Court decided last week was that what's mine is not really mine, and what's yours is not really yours -- that, in fact, private property only exists as a political expedient, a psychological contrivance wholly subject to the government's whims." A number of critics, including Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Clarence Thomas, have warned that the Kelo decision will leave the poor, the elderly, and racial minorities most vulnerable to losing property to the government, and DeLay agreed: "Those people with the least economic and political power -- with the least means to fight back and the most need for government protection of their God-given rights -- have been told by the Supreme Court that while property rights are sacred, some people's property rights are more sacred than others'." "It is not a debatable ideological overreach, but a universally deplorable assault of the rights of man," DeLay said. "The Court's Kelo decision will go down in history as a travesty," he concluded. In addition to the resolution, legislation has been introduced in both the House and Senate to limit federal funding for cities and municipalities that use eminent domain to seize property for economic development. House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. (R-Wis.) introduced the House bill, and he said he expects the House Judiciary Committee to consider it later this year. "To give legislative force to this resolution, today I introduced H.R. 3135, the "Private Property Rights Protection Act of 2005. This bipartisan bill will help restore the property rights of all Americans that the Supreme Court took away last week," Sensenbrenner said. Rep. John Conyners, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, is the lead Democratic cosponsor, and 64 lawmakers already have pledged their support, Sensenbrenner said. Like a bill introduced last week in the U.S. Senate, the House bill would prevent the federal government from using economic development as a justification for taking privately owned property. It also would prohibit any state or municipality from doing so whenever federal funds are involved with the project for which eminent domain authority is exercised. "American taxpayers should not be forced to contribute in any way to the abuse of government power," Sensenbrenner said. He noted that farmers, ranchers, and religious organizations all are threatened by the Kelo ruling, which might allow developers to seize their property for economic development. Sensenbrenner said his bill -- H.R. 3135 - will "assure the American people that we will not allow churches, homes, farms, and other private property to be bulldozed in abusive land grabs that solely benefit private individuals whose only claim to that land is that their greater wealth will increase tax revenues."
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| 9/11 Hijackers used NJ College Library Computers |
| 2005-04-30 |
| Two of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist hijackers used a public-access computer at a New Jersey state college library to buy tickets for the plane they helped hijack and crash into the Pentagon, a federal prosecutor said. Ken Wainstein, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, made the revelation Thursday during a congressional hearing in which the Bush administration pushed for renewal of provisions of the Patriot Act that make it easier for investigators to obtain library and other records. "Investigators tracing the activities of the hijackers determined that, on four occasions in August of 2001, individuals using Internet accounts registered to Nawaf Alhamzi and Khalid Almihdhar -- 9/11 hijackers -- used public access computers in the library of a state college in New Jersey," Mr. Wainstein testified before a House Judiciary subcommittee. "The computers in the library were used to review and order airline tickets in an Internet travel reservations site," he said. On Aug. 30, 2001, someone using Mr. Alhamzi's account logged on to a computer at the school to check on travel reservations for Sept. 11, 2001, that had already been made, he added. Mr. Wainstein didn't identify the college, but an official with William Paterson University in Wayne said that shortly after the attacks, investigators seized several public-access computers from the college's library. "The FBI, in furtherance of their investigation into 9/11, did take a number of our public access computers," Stuart Goldstein, the college's assistant vice president for institutional advancement, said Friday. "The FBI never informed us as to what they found or didn't find." William Paterson University is the closest state college to where the hijackers were living just before the attacks. Justice Department spokesman Kevin Madden said the testimony shows how important the library provision of the Patriot Act is to national security. "The more people learn about the Patriot Act, the more they learn that it is designed to protect them from harm and from terrorist acts," he said. Mr. Madden said he did not know if libraries at other New Jersey colleges were searched after the attacks. Messrs. Alhamzi and Almidhar were two of the five hijackers who helped seize American Airlines Flight 77, which took off from Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C., and crashed into the Pentagon. They were among a group of as may as six of the Sept. 11 hijackers who lived in Paterson shortly before the attacks. Two others, Hani Hanjour, who would pilot the doomed plane, and Majed Moqed, bought their tickets from a Totowa travel agency, paying with a wad of cash after their debit card was rejected less than two weeks before the attacks. House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R., Wis.) said the testimony highlights the need to review provisions of the Patriot Act that enable the quick retrieval of library information by authorities. "We put Americans" lives at risk if we foolishly provide sanctuaries -- even in our public libraries -- for terrorists to operate," he said. |
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| GOP to Gorelick - Get The Hell Out! |
| 2004-04-14 |
| The heat is on... Sensenbrenner Urges Commissioner Gorelick to Resign from the 9/11 Commission Because of Her 4/14/2004 12:07:00 PM To: National Desk Contact: Jeff Lungren or Terry Shawn of the House Committee on the Judiciary, 202-225-2492, http://www.house.gov/judiciary WASHINGTON, April 14 /U.S. Newswire/ -- House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. (R-Wis.) released the following statement: "Yesterday, a 1995 memo written by 9/11 Commission Member Jamie Gorelick, in her former role as Like it hasnât already, freakinâ three ring circus. Reluctantly, I have come to the conclusion that Ms. Gorelick should resign from this Commission. Git! Begone, wench!! "The Commissionâs Guidelines on Recusals state, âCommissioners and staff will recuse themselves from investigating work they performed in prior government service.â Commissioner Gorelickâs memo directing a policy that âgo(es) beyond what is legally requiredâ indicates that her judgment and actions as the Deputy Attorney General in the "While it is regrettable that this conflict had not come to light sooner Heh! Feel the burn! "Key figures like former FBI Director Freeh, Director Mueller, Attorney General Ashcroft, former presidential adviser Richard Clarke, and National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice have all testified before the Commission and would have rightly sparked indignation about a conflict of interest had these individuals also been members of the Commission. Testifying before the Commission is Ms. Gorelickâs proper role, not sitting as a member of this independent commission." Like I said, two standards, hopefully not in this case. Thank you, Mr. Sensenbrenner. |
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