Center for Constitutional Rights. The Center for Constitutional Rights[1] (CCR) is a non-profit legal advocacy organization based in New York, USA, founded in 1966. In recent years, it has been frequently in the news for organizing and providing legal assistance to the people the US Government asserts are terrorists detained in the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
This article is about the state. ...
Year 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the 1966 Gregorian calendar. ...
Detainees upon arrival at Camp X-Ray, January 2002 Guantánamo Bay detainment camp serves as a joint military prison and interrogation center under the leadership of Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO), has occupied a portion of the United States Navys base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba since 2002. ...
Introduction and History
Michael Ratner, current President of the Center for Constitutional Rights. The Center, originally the Law Center for Constitutional Rights, developed when radical lawyers representing American Civil Rights Movement activists in Mississippi saw a need for a privately funded legal center to support litigation. These founding lawyers were Morton Stavis, Arthur Kinoy, Ben Smith and William Kunstler. The Center conceived of itself as a "movement support" organization -- that is, an organization that prioritized bringing cases activists on the ground wanted to see brought, whether or not they could be won in court, for purposes as diverse as raising public awareness of an issue, generating media attention, or energizing activists harassed by local law enforcement in the South. In this regard, the Center differed from more traditional legal non-profits such as the ACLU, which was more focused on bringing winnable cases in order to extend precedents and develop the law, as well as pursue First Amendment issues. Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 449 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (1736 × 2315 pixel, file size: 1. ...
Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 449 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (1736 × 2315 pixel, file size: 1. ...
Martin Luther King is perhaps most famous for his I Have a Dream speech, given in front of the Lincoln Memorial during the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom This article is about the civil rights movement following the Brown v. ...
This article is about the U.S. state. ...
William Moses Kunstler (July 7, 1919 - September 4, 1995) was a American jurist, self-described radical lawyer and civil rights activist. ...
During the 1960s and 1970s the Center brought a diverse array of cases on behalf of civil rights activists, many of which made their way to the Supreme Court. Despite the Center's ready embrace of litigation strategies promising "success without victory" (as the title of CCR board member Jules Lobel's book put it), many of these lawsuits resulted in victories and set lasting precedents. Some of these landmark cases are:
- Dombrowski v. Pfister, 380 U.S. 479 (1965), establishing an exception to the ordinary rule that federal courts would not enjoin state criminal prosecutions, and allowing such injunctions where allowing a prosecution to go forward under an overbroad state statute regulating expression might result in a substantial loss or impairment of freedom of expression.
- Founder William Kunstler and co-counsel Leonard Weinglass played a leading role in the case of the Chicago 7 (8), and were themselves charged with 38 counts of contempt for their "vigorous defense".
- In 1972, the Court unanimously declared in United States v. United States District Court that engaging in domestic electronic surveillance without a warrant is unconstitutional.
- During the 1970s, the Center for Constitutional Rights brought and won the case Monell v. Department of Social Services (1978), which provided that local governments could be liable in federal court for violating individuals' constitutional rights.
The landmark 1980 decision in Filártiga v. Peña-Irala, using the then-obscure Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) of 1789, opened U.S. courts for victims of human rights crimes to bring suit against perpetrators from anywhere. From the early 1980s onwards, the Center was best known for bringing such claims for violations of international law in United States courts. Past examples include: Leonard I. Weinglass is a U.S. lawyer and civil rights activist. ...
For the similarly named Chicago album, see Chicago VII. The Chicago Seven The Chicago Seven were seven (originally eight, when they were known as the Chicago Eight) defendants charged with conspiracy, inciting to riot and other charges related to violent protests that took place in Chicago, Illinois on the occasion...
Constitutionality is the status of a law, a procedure, or an acts accordance with the laws or guidelines set forth in the applicable constitution. ...
Holding Municipalities can be held liable for violations of Constitutional rights through Section 1983 actions. ...
Filártiga v. ...
The Alien Tort Statute, , (ATS) is a federal law that states, in relevant part: The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States. ...
- By working through the courts with the government of the Philippines, CCR achieved a ruling to allow the potentially illegal assets of Ferdinand Marcos to be frozen until a court could adjudiciate the case in Republic of the Philippines v. Marcos.
- Doe v. Karadzic, where CCR won a $4.5 billion judgment against Bosnian-Serb leader Radovan Karadzic for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity under the ATCA. The 1995 Second Circuit decision in this case established that rape and sexual violence constituted torture and genocide and laid the groundwork for cases against non-state actors, including multinational corporations.
- Doe v. Unocal (filed in 1996), an ATCA suit against the transnational energy giant for its alleged complicity in human rights atrocities committed by the Burmese government and military during the construction of the Yadana natural gas pipeline in central Burma. (Claims were settled by the parties in 2005.)
- Wiwa v. Royal Dutch/Shell (filed in 1996), an ongoing case on behalf of the heirs of Ogoni activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and others against the international oil company for complicity in human rights violations including the execution of Wiwa and others by the Nigerian military regime.
Since 9/11, CCR has been best known for bringing a variety of cases challenging the Bush administration's detention and interrogation practices in the "Global War on Terror": - CCR brought and won the landmark case Rasul v. Bush (2004), establishing that Guantanamo detainees have the right of access to the federal courts.
- CCR filed a class-action complaint on behalf of the hundreds of so-called "special interest" detainees rounded up in the wake of 9/11 attacks, and subject to a hold-until-cleared policy whereby they would be held in detention without probable cause, even after they had final deportation orders, until they had been cleared by the FBI of any connection to the attacks, Turkmen v. Ashcroft, 2006 WL 1662663 (E.D.N.Y. June 14, 2006).
- CCR represents Canadian citizen Maher Arar in his suit against federal officials over their actions that resulted in his transfer to Syria for 374 days of detention and torture, Arar v. Ashcroft, 414 F. Supp.2d 250 (E.D.N.Y. 2006).
- CCR brought one of the first two suits challenging the NSA warrantless surveillance program, Center for Constitutional Rights v. Bush.
Other prominent areas of litigation include: Holding Court membership Chief Justice: William Rehnquist Associate Justices: John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day OConnor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer Case opinions Majority by: Stevens Joined by: OConnor, Souter, Ginsburg, Breyer Concurrence by: Kennedy Dissent by: Scalia Joined by: Rehnquist...
Maher Arar (born 1970 in Syria) is a Canadian software engineer who was subjected to the United States policy of extraordinary rendition, a process where detainees are transferred from one country to another, with the expectation that they will be tortured in the country to which they are rendered. ...
- In 1988, obtained permanent injunction creating buffer zone around abortion clinics where anti-abortion group "Operation Rescue" could not approach women seeking medical services, NOW v. Terry.
- In 1989, CCR lawyers won in the Supreme Court the case establishing that flag burning is expressive conduct protected by the First Amendment, Texas v. Johnson.
- Since 1998, CCR has brought a series of cases successfully challenging the federal material support statute, Humanitarian Law Project v. Reno.
- In 1999, continuing a series of clashes with U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, CCR secured the release of Hany Kiareldeen in a precedent-setting case on the use of secret evidence in deportation trials.
The CCR has been active in a wide range of other fields, from providing legal services to U.S. servicemen accused of criminal conduct[2] during the Vietnam Conflict to government corruption in Puerto Rico and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Center also has a leading role in challenging the legal restrictions the United States government imposes on travelers to Cuba. The Center was invovled in the last legal challenge to the travel ban to reach the Supreme Court, Regan v. Wald, 468 U.S. 222 (1984), and has represented some 425 persons subjected to civil penalties prosecutions by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the Department of the Treasury. Holding A Texas statute that criminalized the desecration of the American flag violated the First Amendment. ...
Seal of the United States Department of Justice The United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice (see 28 U.S.C. § 503) concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. ...
Janet Reno (born July 21, 1938) was the first female Attorney General of the United States (1993–2001). ...
The Vietnam War was a war fought between 1957 and 1975 on the ground in South Vietnam and bordering areas of Cambodia and Laos (See Secret War) and in bombing runs (Rolling Thunder) over North Vietnam. ...
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (abbreviated UDHR) is an advisory declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly (A/RES/217, 10 December 1948 at Palais de Chaillot, Paris). ...
The current organization was formed from the merger of the original Center for Constitutional Rights (formed in 1966 by Kunstler, Kinoy, Stavis and Smith) and the Emergency Civil Liberties Committee (ECLC).
Current Activities and Litigation - In the wake of the Rasul decision, CCR has coordinated the filing and litigation of several hundred habeas corpus petitions on behalf of Guantanamo Bay detainees. CCR directly represents a number of these detainees, including Mohammed Al-Qahtani and Majid Khan.
- CCR has sought criminal investigation in Germany of U.S. officials, notably United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, for alleged war crimes in the Abu Ghraib prison.
- CCR has called for the impeachment[3] of US President George W. Bush.
- CCR filed a civil damages action against former Israeli Shin Bet head Avi Dichter for his role in the bombing of an apartment complex in 2002 in Gaza. The case was dismissed by a U.S. district court in May 2007 and is now on appeal.[4]
- In March 2005, CCR filed Corrie v. Caterpillar, alleging that Caterpillar, Inc. violated international and state law by providing specially designed bulldozers to the Israeli Defense Forces that it knew would be used to demolish homes and endanger civilians. The suit was dismissed by the district court in November 2005 and is pending appeal to the Ninth Circuit.
- In December 2005, CCR filed suit against Lt. Gen. (ret.) Moshe Ya’alon, former Head of the Intelligence Branch and former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), for war crimes and other human rights violations in connection with the hundreds of civilian deaths and injuries in the 1996 shelling of a United Nations compound in Qana, in the south of Lebanon. In December 2006 the district court dismissed the suit, Belhas v. Ya'alon, ruling that General Ya'alon was acting in his official capacity in the Israeli Defense Forces and possesses immunity.
- CCR has challenged monopolistic prison telephone contracts in New York State by which prisoners' families can be charged as much as six times the average collect call rate for calls from their incarcerated loved ones. The challenges have proceeded both in the courts and through a grassroots, state-wide campaign.
- The Center is counsel to the Vulcan Society, the organization of black firefighters in the New York City Fire Department. EEOC charges filed by the Center resulted in a lawsuit (Vulcan Society v. City of New York) filed by the United States Department of Justice against the City of New York, challenging the use of the written firefighter examination to select new FDNY hires.
Detainees upon arrival at Camp X-Ray, January 2002 Wikisource has original text related to this article: Detention, Treatment, and Trial of Certain Non-Citizens in the War Against Terrorism Wikisource has original text related to this article: Statement of Alberto J Mora on interrogation abuse, July 7, 2004 Guantanamo...
Majid Khan is a former cricket player, specialist batsman and former captain of the Pakistan cricket team. ...
The United States Secretary of Defense (SECDEF) is the head of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), concerned with the armed services and military matters. ...
Donald Henry Rumsfeld (born July 9, 1932) is a U.S. Republican politician and businessman, who was the 13th Secretary of Defense under President Gerald Ford from 1975 to 1977, and the 21st Secretary of Defense under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2006. ...
It has been suggested that Nature of Abu Ghraib abuse be merged into this article or section. ...
Abu Ghraib cell block The Abu Ghraib prison (Arabic: سجن أبو غريب; also Abu Ghurayb) is in Abu Ghraib, an Iraqi city 32 km (20 mi) west of Baghdad. ...
The examples and perspective in this article or section may not include all significant viewpoints. ...
Avi Dichter (Hebrew: ×בי דיכטר) (born: December 4, 1952) is an Israeli politician, former head of the Shabak, and member of the Knesset. ...
Not to be confused with the Spanish name Garza or the Egyptian town of Giza. ...
Criticism - Matthew Vadum of Capital Research Center, a conservative non-profit organization which aims to study non-profit organizations, called the Center for Constitutional Rights The Terrorists' Legal Team because of his belief that CCR is "an ultra-leftist public-interest law firm" that "has protected the supposed constitutional rights of those who would destroy the United States." [5].
- According to NGO Monitor, an Israeli non-governmental organization with the stated aim of monitoring other non-governmental organizations in the Middle East, the Center for Constitutional Rights has a biased political position against Israel. NGO Monitor writes, "CCR consistently disregards the context of terror, denies Israel’s right to self-defense, and accuses it of deliberately targeting civilians."[6].
Capital Research Center (CRC) is an organization that was founded in 1984 by Willa Johnson to study non-profit organizations, with a special focus on reviving the American traditions of charity, philanthropy, and voluntarism. ...
Conservative may refer to: Conservatism, political philosophy A member of a Conservative Party Conservative extension, premise of deductive logic Conservativity theorem, mathematical proof of conservative extension Conservative Judaism britney spears Category: ...
NGO Monitor (Non-governmental organization monitor) is an Israeli non-governmental organization with the stated aim of monitoring other non-governmental organizations operating in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. ...
“NGO†redirects here. ...
NGO Monitor (Non-governmental organization monitor) is an Israeli non-governmental organization with the stated aim of monitoring other non-governmental organizations operating in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. ...
Trivia - Rachel Meeropol, an attorney for the CCR is the granddaughter of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were convicted and executed for providing nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union.
- The merger between CCR and the ECLC was marked by a wedding ceremony with the groom, Arthur Kinoy of CCR, walking down the aisle with the bride, Edith Tiger of ECLC.
Julius Rosenberg (May 12, 1918 – June 19, 1953) and Ethel Greenglass Rosenberg (September 28, 1915 – June 19, 1953) were American Communists who received international attention when they were executed for passing nuclear weapons secrets to the Soviet Union. ...
See also The Alien Tort Statute, , (ATS) is a federal law that states, in relevant part: The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States. ...
Filártiga v. ...
Holding U.S. citizens designated as enemy combatants by the Executive Branch have a right to challenge their detainment under the Due Process Clause. ...
Holding Court membership Chief Justice: William Rehnquist Associate Justices: John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day OConnor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer Case opinions Majority by: Stevens Joined by: OConnor, Souter, Ginsburg, Breyer Concurrence by: Kennedy Dissent by: Scalia Joined by: Rehnquist...
The term unlawful combatant (also unlawful enemy combatant or unprivileged combatant/belligerent) denotes a person denied the privileges of prisoner of war (POW) designation, in accordance with the Geneva Conventions; one to whom protection is recognised as due is a lawful or privileged combatant. ...
Michael Ratner is an attorney, adjunct professor of law at Columbia University Law School, and president of the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), a non-profit human rights litigation organization based in New York, New York. ...
There are very few or no other articles that link to this one. ...
The American Freedom Campaign is an organization that has as its goal to put restoration of the Constitution on the agenda for Democratic presidential candidates, roughly parallel to the goal of the American Freedom Agenda for Republican candidates, although Democratic and Republican candidates could sign on to both pledges. ...
References - ^ The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) is a non-profit legal and educational organization aimed to protect and advance the rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
- ^ CCR: Our History
- ^ CCR: Articles of Impeachment Against George W. Bush
- ^ Judge dismissed New York lawsuit blaming deaths on ex-Israeli security chief, Larry Neumeister, Associated Press, May 2, 2007
- ^ Vadum, Matthew (2006-10-03). The Terrorists' Legal Team. Retrieved on 2007-08-08.
- ^ Center for Constitutional Rights: Serial Abuse of International Law (2007-07-17). Retrieved on 2007-08-08.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (abbreviated UDHR) is an advisory declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly (A/RES/217, 10 December 1948 at Palais de Chaillot, Paris). ...
The Associated Press, or AP, is an American news agency, the worlds largest such organization. ...
Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ...
is the 220th day of the year (221st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ...
is the 220th day of the year (221st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
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