LA 8 Judge Speaks His Mind

We previously have blogged about the dropping of charges against the LA 8.  The immigration judge, Bruce Einhorn,  in the case, who has retired and is an adjunct professor of international human rights law and war crimes studies at Pepperdine, has written a scathing commentary in the Los Angeles Daily Journal (Download einhorn_112607.pdf ) about the U.S. government’s handling of the LA 8 case and the lack of independence of immigration judges:

“Without judges emancipated from the tyranny of partisan rhetoric and political sound bites like “national security” and the “war on terror,” the encroaching power of government in the name of freedom will make us all less free. In the end, my decision to dismiss the cases against Hamide and Shehadeh was not all about them but much about us, about our right to restrain the ambitions of an imperial and imperious executive.

In this epoch, as in all periods of national stress, our self-preservation requires much struggle and sacrifice – but never, ever must it steal from us our constitutional soul. If we become soulless, we will never be safe, from enemies foreign or domestic. Rather, we will be the walking dead, without a democratic destiny.”

KJ