Last Wednesday Ahmed Ressam was sentenced to a 22-year prison term for his role in the plot to bomb the Los Angeles International Airport on New Year’s Eve, 1999. Chief U.S. District Judge John Coughenour, who is obviously not a fan of John Ashcroft or Alberto Gonzales, had this to say at the hearing:
The tragedy of Sept. 11 shook our sense of security and made us realize that we, too, are vulnerable to acts of terrorism. Unfortunately, some believe that this threat renders our Constitution obsolete. … If that view is allowed to prevail, the terrorists will have won.
Coughenour seems like the just the kind of judge we need on the Supreme Court, but I didn’t see his name on any of the short lists of candidates to replace O’Connor. I guess Bush didn’t care for his 16,000 word paper published in the Winter 2003 issue of The Seattle University Law Review criticizing The Patriot Act. More about Coughenour here.
And here is a link to a an opinion piece about The Constitution that he wrote for the Seattle Post Intelligencer in 1999 that includes:
The fundamental goals of the Bill of Rights — maintaining a free and independent press, tolerating minority religious beliefs, protecting the rights of those accused of crimes — remain challenges for anyone participating in our democracy.
There are now, as there have always been, genuine temptations to shortchange these liberties for the sake of a more efficient or effective government.
Honoring the Constitution means learning to say no to these temptations. Each generation must renew this nation’s commitment to the Constitution.
And as an added bonus, I’ll throw in this old quote:
“Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”–Benjamin Franklin or perhaps Richard Jackson
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