Bush taps judge for Homeland Security

[rainbow4321]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/washin...



WASHINGTON - President Bush has chosen federal appeals court judge Michael Chertoff to be his new Homeland Security chief, turning to a former federal prosecutor who helped craft the early war on terror strategy, The Associated Press has learned.

Chertoff headed the Justice Department's criminal division from 2001 to 2003, where he played a central role in the nation's legal response to the Sept. 11 attacks, before the president named him to appeals court position in New Jersey.

Bush was to formally announce Chertoff's selection later at the White House, two government officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The AP.

Chertoff would replace Tom Ridge, the department's first chief.

[elehhhhna]

1. Boy Howdy another sleazy Anit-Constitutionalist!

But now I have a new gremlin to watch, someone who is as intent on undermining the law and Constitution as Ashcroft. I am referring to the man behind the criminal prosecution of terrorists, Michael Chertoff. Chertoff, former chief of the Justice Department's criminal division, and a scary looking guy if ever there was one, has been elevated to the level of Court of Appeals judge--the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, whose jurisdiction includes Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. What's so scary about Michael? Well, besides having no judicial experience and being a right-ring radical who does not believe in the Constitution and wants to rewrite federal law and rules of procedure on an ad hoc, case by case basis, as it suits him, nothing I guess.

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:1yVNPVMCKqUJ:www.c...

[Rose Siding]

2. OMG, he's the Moussaoui prosecuter

[elehhhhna]

3. Yes. Very effective lawyering there. LOL.

[Carni]

13. I think he also had something to do with the Enron "investigation"

But it seems to me that he had something to do with Enron as well--it's been a while I need to refresh my memory!

[merh]

10. Better Homeland head than a judge on the bench with

his credentials.

[pdxmom]

21. What is going on?

We have an AG nominee who finds torture ok, as long as no one actually dies and now a Homeland Security nominee who thinks that it's ok to hold people indefinitely, without any rights.

I think the next earthquake we experience will the drafters of our Constitution collectively rolling over in their graves.

[struggle4progress]

43. "Many civil liberties activists were critical of the ...

... of the Justice Department's round-up of immigrants suspected of terrorist links in the wake of the 2001 attacks.

Judge Chertoff defended the detentions during a Washington forum on terrorism laws in 2003.

'Even if it were true that only a fraction of the people picked up under this lawful process actually posed a danger, would it have been responsible for the administration to take the opposite position? To let them all go on bail because you do not have enough to prove a case beyond a reasonable doubt? And then, if one or two decided to blow up the Lincoln Tunnel and a couple of thousand people were killed, would the next 9/11 commission say that is a great choice,' he said. 'Let us keep it up? Or would people say the government was not behaving appropriately' "

Bush Homeland Security Nominee Known as Legal Architect of War on Terror Jim Malone
Washington
11-January-2005 2001
http://www.voanews.com/english/2005-01-11-voa70.cfm

[Rose Siding]

4. ROFL -He was the repub Whitewater lawyer

Not *too* partisan, huh?

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/whitewater/july-dec00/wh...

[Rose Siding]

5. Muslim Am Society says he favors secret hearings...

In the hours and days immediately following attacks, Attorney General John Ashcroft . . . directed that FBI and INS agents question anyone they could find with a Muslim-sounding name . . . in some areas . . . they simply looked for names in the phone book. . . . . Anyone who could be held, even on a minor violation of law or immigration rules, was held under a three-pronged strategy, fashioned by Ashcroft and a close circle of Justice Department deputies including criminal division chief Michael Chertoff, that was intended to exert maximum pressure on these detainees . . . —From a summary of Ashcroft strategy sessions contained, in further detail, in Steven Brill's After: How America Confronted the September 12 Era (Simon & Schuster)
...
In his book After, Steve Brill, based on his sources, reports that in the strategy sessions at the Justice Department, Chertoff, agreeing that the detainees should be held for long periods of questioning, said that even if some got a hearing, "the hearings could not only be done in secret, but also could be delayed, and that even after the hearings were held and they were ordered deported , there was nothing in the law that said they absolutely had to be deported immediately. They could be held still longer."

As for the detainees' right to contact lawyers, Chertoff and the others in the room, reports Brill, knew that under INS rules, the prisoners "were entitled to call a lawyer from jail, but the lists the INS provided of available lawyers invariably had phone numbers that were not in service."

http://www.masnet.org/articleinterest.asp?id=213

[Rose Siding]

7. He refused to replace Pitt at the SEC

Chertoff Spurns SEC Top Spot
On Thursday, Bloomberg reported that President Bush planned to ask assistant attorney general Michael Chertoff to replace Harvey Pitt as head of the Securities and Exchange Commission. But just hours after the report, the 48-year-old seemingly turned down the offer, saying he's "happy" to remain as head of the Justice Department's criminal division.

http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/3007276/c_3043144?f=arch...

[Name removed]

28. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[struggle4progress]

46. "Want to see the future of interrogation? Look no further than Oxnard ...

... California, where Oliverio Martinez has filed a lawsuit, against the Oxnard Police. It seems that Mr. Martinez, after being shot by police five times, was then questioned until he became unconscious. From even before he was loaded into the ambulance, until he became unconscious in the emergency room. <snip> Now along with the assaults on our first, second, and fourth amendment rights, comes another assault on the fifth, specifically, the right to remain silent. The really scary quote from the same article: 'The Bush administration has sided with the Oxnard police in the case. Police can hold people in custody and force them to talk, (emphasis mine) so long as their incriminating statements are not used to prosecute them, argues a brief to the court filed by U.S. Solicitor Gen. Theodore Olson and Michael Chertoff, the chief of the Justice Department's criminal division.' " <snip>
http://www.icresource.com/ICR/Library/PolSocAction/Civi...

[librechik]

15. the partisan aspect of the Whitewater connection bothers me

but not as much as the fact that there was NO CASE THERE and yet they pushed ahead vindictively for their own reasons. A man who will ignjore reality for his masters is not someone we want in charge of something like HSD.

[patcox2]

17. Read what he says, though, he criticizes Ray, the WW prosecutor.

Chertoff is a republican, and a bit partisan, but actually, he is respected here, in NJ, where he began his career as federal prosecutor. Compared to the absolute crooks and morons Bush tends to appoint, this guy is not an embarrassment. Not known to be a toady or lapdog, more of a Whitman republican.

[Rose Siding]

22. He sure comes across diffently here

As counsel to Senator Alphonse D’Amato (R-NY) in the Whitewater investigation, Chertoff proved his loyalty to the Republican Party and his willingness to turn a legal investigation into a political one. He ruthlessly pursued the Clintons, on behalf of the Republican controlled Senate. Shortly after the congressional Whitewater investigation had been finished, Chertoff utilized his role in the probe to promote Robert Dole’s presidential campaign. Chertoff stumped for Dole as a warm-up speaker at a fundraiser in Lyndhurst, New Jersey. Referring to his work in Whitewater, Chertoff asked the crowd, “(Clinton) promised us the most ethical administration in American history. Well, how many of that administration are in jail now? Why does the White House spend more time hiding its files from subpoenas than it does pursuing drug dealers?''

http://www.allianceforjustice.org/judicial/research_pub...

A bit partisan? NJ can respect him.

[struggle4progress]

44. Security boss took on Clintons

11/01/2005 19:33 - (SA)

<snip> Chertoff was a senior counsel on the Whitewater investigation into Bill and Hillary Clinton's financial dealings a decade ago. <snip>

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_16...

[UpInArms]

6. from Mari333

http://www.counterpunch.org/cassel06112003.html

But now I have a new gremlin to watch, someone who is as intent on undermining the law and Constitution as Ashcroft. I am referring to the man behind the criminal prosecution of terrorists, Michael Chertoff. Chertoff, former chief of the Justice Department's criminal division, and a scary looking guy if ever there was one, has been elevated to the level of Court of Appeals judge--the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, whose jurisdiction includes Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. What's so scary about Michael? Well, besides having no judicial experience and being a right-ring radical who does not believe in the Constitution and wants to rewrite federal law and rules of procedure on an ad hoc, case by case basis, as it suits him, nothing I guess.

A good place to look for Chertoff's legal philosophy is in the prosecution of Zacarias Moussaoui , now taking place in the Eastern District of Virginia. Chertoff is not the prosecutor of course, Paul McNulty of the Eastern District is. But Chertoff is McNulty's boss and he is calling the shots. So Chertoff argued the government's case in the super secret hearing before the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals last week. The government is trying to block trial judge Leonie Brinkema's ruling that Moussaoui and his lawyers have access to the government's star witnesses against him. The government has refused and appealed. Judge Brinkema, who still believes in the Constitution, rightly ruled that to deny Moussaoui that access is a blatant violation of the Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses.

[peaches2003]

8. Stumbling, bumbling

Bush can hardly even read the script he was given to make the announcement. More than normal problems this morning. Probably excitment. With Gonzalez, Cheney, Rummy, Condi, and now this judge he knows he will be able to shred the Consitiution any which way he wants.

[Demit]

9. OMG. From that Counterpunch article--

"Keep your eye on Michael Chertoff. As bad for the law and Constitution as many of Bush's judicial appointees are, Chertoff has been the architect of prosecutions in the "war on terror." And he may have big changes in mind for you, me, the courts, and the Constitution."

On NBC they're calling him a "boy scout". Gag me.

[Catchawave]

11. From Judicialwatch.org: (dtd 2003)

http://www.judicialwatch.org/printer_3494.shtml

SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE LAUNCHES JOINT INVESTIGATION OF NOMINEE MICHAEL CHERTOFF AND ALLEGED JUSTICE DEPARTMENT MISUSE OF ORGANIZED CRIME OPERATIVE

Illegal Activity by FBI and Other U.S. Agencies While Mr. Chertoff was U.S. Attorney in New Jersey

Judicial Watch Requested a Meeting to Brief the Judiciary Committee Earlier This Week


(Washington, DC) Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption and abuse, announced today that the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary has launched a joint investigation of judicial nominee Michael Chertoff, who was slated to join the bench of the U.S. Court of Appeals to the Third Circuit, and the alleged Justice Department misuse of organized crime operatives by the FBI and other U.S. government agencies in the District of New Jersey (among other northeastern U.S. jurisdictions), while Mr. Chertoff served as the U.S. Attorney. The announcement by Judiciary Committee Chairman, Senator Orrin Hatch, came during a contentious committee “mark-up” hearing, this morning.

more....

[underpants]

12. Let me be the first to propose a nickname...........

Jerkoff

[warrens]

18. Done

You have done yeoman service here, citizen. Just when I think the Bushies can't get any worse, they rise to the occasion and prove me wrong.

[underpants]

19. Just trying to do my part

It is getting like inbreeding in a mountain town. They are running out of people, the crowd is shrinking.

Let's just hope that Jerkoff doesn't have any Kerik-esque stories.......no WAIT! LEt's hope he does. Kerik IS the gift that keeps on giving.

[spanone]

14. Asswipes right hand man. From bad to worse.

[Stephanie]

16. He worked on Whitewater

As counsel to Senator Alphonse D’Amato (R-NY) in the Whitewater investigation, Chertoff proved his loyalty to the Republican Party and his willingness to turn a legal investigation into a political one. He ruthlessly pursued the Clintons, on behalf of the Republican controlled Senate. Shortly after the congressional Whitewater investigation had been finished, Chertoff utilized his role in the probe to promote Robert Dole’s presidential campaign. Chertoff stumped for Dole as a warm-up speaker at a fundraiser in Lyndhurst, New Jersey. Referring to his work in Whitewater, Chertoff asked the crowd, “(Clinton) promised us the most ethical administration in American history. Well, how many of that administration are in jail now? Why does the White House spend more time hiding its files from subpoenas than it does pursuing drug dealers?'' How many members of this administration have to resign in disgrace?”13

Chertoff also wrote an article for Newsweek in 1996 entitled Why Whitewater Matters describing the Clintons wrongdoing and why it was important. It is clear that Chertoff had no problem taking his knowledge of the investigation and using it to turn Americans
against the President during an election campaign. Senators might ask if this is an appropriate role for an investigator in what was supposed to be an apolitical investigation.14

http://www.allianceforjustice.org/judicial/research_pub...

[underpants]

20. LEt us all remember that this guy is the SECOND choice-after Kerik

YIKES

[Redstone]

23. Ja, ve must protect

ze Vaterland, oops, ze Homeland, vatever it takes, und if you do not like it, ve vill fix you so you do.

Bye bye, Fourth Amendment. It was good knowin' ya.

Redstone

[starroute]

24. His being Jewish raises certain sensitive issues

In Googling on his name, it's hard to avoid noticing links where the racist right is freaking out over him because he went after David Duke, and is ascribing this to some sort of Jewish conspiracy.

I'm trying to find an objective take on whether or not Chertoff has actually shown any pro-Israel or pro-Likud bias, and so far I haven't come up with anything.

But my basic Jewish paranoia suggests that appointing a Jewish head for a department that can be seen as selectively targeting Arabs is an incredibly stupid move no matter how you cut it.


On edit: I can't find anything to suggest that Chertoff is actually tied to either Likud or the Neocons. But I do find lots and lots to indicate that he's a sort of poster boy for rabidly anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists. This is even mentioned in a review of anti-Semitisim posted by the Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism at Tel Aviv University:
http://www.tau.ac.il/Anti-Semitism/asw2003-4/general-an...

[scoopmeister]

25. Chertoff is Kerik without the sex

Actually, he's worse than Kerik -- illegal detainment of Arabs, domestic surveillance, blocking the Flight 93 transcripts. Read all about his record here:

http://www.pnionline.com/dnblog/extra/archives/001326.h...

[Name removed]

30. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[rainbow4321]

26. He was the attorney for a NJ doc accused of giving $ to terrorists

Scroll 1/2 way down the page and you will see an article about him being the attorney for a NJ doc that was accused of having terrorist connections..allegedly skimming money off of an HMO and sending it to terrorists. If you go onto the next page after that <goes onto page three, I believe, at the very bottom,> it tells more about the guy he defended.

http://www.opednews.com/duncan_090504_njterrorism2.htm


This story really caught my attention since allegations were made that Dr. Elamir had financial ties to Osama Bin Laden for years and that Bin Laden had funded an HMO that Elamir was operating in New Jersey . The intelligence report that Dateline refers to also infers that Dr. Elamir may have skimmed money from the HMO to “terrorist activities”.
<snip>

I didn’t know who Michael Chertoff was when I ran across his name as the attorney who defended Dr. Elamir in his fraudulent HMO and MRI cases, so I did some research. I was completely blown away by what I discovered about Michael Chertoff.


As it turns out, Michael Chertoff was appointed Assistant Attorney General, under John Ashcroft, in early 2001 and was placed in charge of the Criminal Division. Since Operation Diamondback was an active case when he took office, and culminated in arrests in June of 2001, the case would have fallen under his pervue since it was handled as a criminal case and not as a counterterrorism case. This means that one of his former clients, Dr. Magdy Elamir, along with his brother Mohamed El Amir, were now involved in a case under his supervision.

<snip>

Perhaps Chertoff could have saved some time and effort and looked in his own backyard for evidence of terrorist financing. To date, Dr. Magdy Elamir and his brother have not been arrested and are still free. I have a theory that Elamir was not arrested, because if his case did come to court, then Chertoff’s role as his lawyer in the HMO case might have been exposed. Since Elamir’s HMO was supposedly a front for Bin Laden and millions of dollars were allegedly skimmed from the HMO to fund terrorism, Chertoff himself might be implicated in some way since he had to have had access to the HMO’s books and Elamir’s finances when he defended him.

[Festivito]

33. WOW! He could be a 9/11 funding link!

It makes me wonder who made money off airline stock futures. Could he be a candidate? The list was never released, that I recall.

----- m y --- Chertoff --- n o t e s --------
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
http://www.counterpunch.org/cassel06112003.html
Spreading Mischief from DoJ to the Federal Bench
By ELAINE CASSEL
"no judicial experience"
"a right-ring radical "
Michael Chertoff is boss to Moussaoui prosecutor Paul McNulty.
Chertoff, however, argued against defendant and defendant lawyer access to star witness, in super-secret appeals court after the judge granted access. This is right-wing dismantling of individual rights.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
Republican counsel to the Senate Whitewater committee
http://www.waasinfo.com/clients/waas/geo/amerpro/waas-m...
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/whitewater/july-dec00/wh...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=2...
Chertoff headed the Justice Department's criminal division from 2001 to 2003, where he played a central role in the nation's legal response to the Sept. 11 attacks, before the president named him to appeals court position in New Jersey.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/washin...
Chertoff headed the Justice Department's criminal division from 2001 to 2003, where he played a central role in the nation's legal response to the Sept. 11 attacks, before the president named him to appeals court position in New Jersey.
http://www.masnet.org/articleinterest.asp?id=213
Chertoff and the others in the room, reports Brill, knew that under INS rules, the prisoners "were entitled to call a lawyer from jail, but the lists the INS provided of available lawyers invariably had phone numbers that were not in service."

http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/3007276/c_3043144?f=arch...
Spurns SEC Top Spot to replace Harvey Pitt.

http://www.judicialwatch.org/printer_3494.shtml
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE LAUNCHES JOINT INVESTIGATION
misuse of organized crime operatives

http://www.allianceforjustice.org/judicial/research_pub...
Chertoff also wrote an article for Newsweek in 1996 entitled Why Whitewater Matters

http://www.pnionline.com/dnblog/extra/archives/001326.h...
his record

http://www.tau.ac.il/Anti-Semitism/asw2003-4/general-an...
sort of poster boy for rabidly anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists

http://www.opednews.com/duncan_090504_njterrorism2.htm
attorney for a NJ doc accused of skimming HMO money and sending to terrorists.
Dr. Magdy Elamir had financial ties to Osama Bin Laden.
Doc and bro still free. Cannot be arrested w/o exposing Chertoff???
Chertoff had access to HMO and Elamir books w/link to OBL???
Bin Laden had funded an HMO that Elamir was operating
and MRI cases

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
Did he work on Enron?
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:EqISRSUJLdkJ:www.u...
Michael Chertoff obtained an indictment against Andersen in March, the prosecutor became the target of public demonstrations by Andersen employees. As the firm's employees confronted the reality that the indictment would drive Andersen out of business, they and others demanded to know why Chertoff wasn't going after his principle target, Enron.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?011105fa_FACT2
time was spent considering Clinton conspiracy theories
won him an important future patron in then Senator Ashcroft

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
claimed Clinton's attacks on Bin Laden were just distractions???
http://www.wired.com/news/conflict/0%2C2100%2C48711%2C0...
"We've obtained court orders directed to out-of-district Internet service providers for logging information.... We've used the nationwide search warrant provision to obtain relevant information," Chertoff said. "We've used the emergency disclosure provisions to support our use of information that was provided to us by an Internet service provider."
federal law said that "a cable operator shall not disclose personally identifiable information
Patriot Act changes the law to read: "A cable operator may disclose such information if the disclosure is ... to a government entity."

[rainbow4321]

34. Maybe now would be a good time for Dateline to re -run it's show...

The one about this doctor and his family..seeing as how Michael Chertoff was his attorney.

More from the article:

http://www.opednews.com/duncan_090504_njterrorism2.htm

To make matters worse, Dr. Elamir’s own brother, Mohamed El Amir, was implicated in Operation Diamondback: “Dateline” has found another reason why federal investigators might want to pay close attention to Dr. Elamir and his family. It’s something we learned when we interviewed Randy Glass, the con-man turned undercover operative who helped the government break up an illegal weapons ring allegedly tied to terrorist groups. It turns out that one of the people recorded trying to arrange an arms deal with Randy Glass was Dr. Elamir’s own brother, Mohamed, an engineer, also a U.S. citizen now living in Egypt. And just listen to what he was interested in.

“There was a warehouse full of weapons in Italy that they needed shipped,” says Glass.It was the spring of 1999. Mohamed Elamir explains that he wants false papers that would identify a shipment of weapons — as vegetables.

So at this point we now have information that Dr. Magdy Elamir along with his brother Mohamed El Amir have ties to Osama Bin Laden and yet neither one of them is arrested. Randy Glass says in fact that “federal agents told him to drop the matter.”

All of this information made me wonder what a person has to do in New Jersey to lose his or her medical license? I also wondered why Dr. Elamir had never been arrested for his connections to Osama Bin Laden? The only logical reason I could figure that Dr. Magdy Elamir was still practicing medicine was that he must have had one fine well connected lawyer.

[Just Me]

35. Whoah,...that ObL linky thingy is,...well,...messed up!!! eom

[Name removed]

27. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Eurobabe]

29. Boy I feel safer already

n/t

[Pegleg Thd]

32. Remember

If the bushit cabal approves of him he is going to be the worst possible choice for the country.
The choice of this pile of crap makes me wonder if the kerik choice was just to test the reaction of the country and this new clown is the one they really wanted!!!

[Just Me]

31. Advocates secret hearings, is ANTI-Constitution, pro-illegal FBI use,...

,...involved in the prosecution of Whitewater and "THE ARCHITECT" of (unconstitutional) prosecutions in the "war on terra".

*GAG* ummmm,...yeah,...great choice.

[President Jesus]

36. Chertoff's history of campaign donations

what a surprise...another partisan hack: http://www.newsmeat.com/washington_political_donations/...

[underpants]

38. Loyalty Loyalty Loyalty

trumps ability or experience

[BlueManDude]

37. Judge Chertoff - don't make me fucking laugh. This guy

is a partisan GOP hack. One of the Grand Inquisitors of the Lewinsky Witch Trial.

[annabanana]

39. kick

[Freddie Stubbs]

40. Less than 2 years ago the Senate didn't seem to think he was a hack

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/r...

[BlueManDude]

41. Did you see the one Nay? Senator Clinton. More Dem wimpiness

[Freddie Stubbs]

42. I think that 'nay' vote was more personal rather than political

because Chertoff was a Whitewater prosecutor.

[grasswire]

45. Victoria Toensing was his kiss of death

She was on CNN defending him today. That's the kiss of death, as far as I'm concerned. A litmus test. If she and her hubby are for Chertoff, he's poison.