News & Commentary

Here are two things we know for sure: the United States used torture against individuals in our custody and that use of torture was authorized by high-ranking government officials in consultation with Justice

This afternoon I walked out of the El Paso terminal and into a wall of heat. I scanned the road for the hotel shuttle, and instead found a familiar face. Rebecca Headen, fellow Mainer and current staff attorney for the ACLU of North Carolina Racial Justice Project, waved from across the street.

I was surprised to see this afternoon that a deal has been reached on tasers between the Portland Police Department and the City Council.  We have testified before the Public Safety Committee a couple of times expressing our concerns about the use of tasers.  Tasers are an appropriate alternative to use of lethal force. The problem is that Chief James Craig suggested in his testimony that tasers should be an alternative to other non-lethal weapons such as pepper spray.  I really hope the new deal will include safeguards to prohibit the deployment of tasers against nonviolent members of the public.  Participating in a public protest for example, even an unruly one, shouldn't result in getting "tased."  Public Policy Counsel Alysia Melnick will be at City Hall tonight to review the new deal and provide public comment.  The City Council Meeting is at 5 pm at City Hall.

“You have the right to an attorney, and if you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you.”  We’re all familiar with those words from countless police dramas (hopefully not as much from personal experience).  The right to an attorney in criminal matters is guaranteed by the Sixth Amen

I spent last Wednesday afternoon up in Houlton touring the border with Customs and Border Protections officials. My host, Keith Fleming, the Area Port Director for Maine, is a fellow Mainer and tremendous professional. He spent a significant amount of time explaining the purpose of CBP - to facilitate trade and personal border crossing for all of Maine's ports of entry, land and sea.

A Pew study last year found that more Americans are getting their news online (37%) than from the newspaper (34%).  Each year, increasing numbers of Americans are getting their news from online sources than traditional media outlets.  In a state like Maine, those trends may be slightly less pronounced, but even in Maine, the social networking site, Facebook, reportedly has 307,640 users.  Most recently, news from protestors in Iran was disseminated to the outside world through Twitter. 

This Tuesday, various members of the Obama Administration, from the Defense and Justice Departments, testified in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which includes Maine Senator Susan Collins.

In easily overlooked news, the City of New York agreed to pay $10,000 to Bradford Campeau-Laurion on Tuesday.

Today the Portland Press Herald reported that the marriage equality oppone