Free Republic

The Obama administration’s decision to authorize the killing by the Central Intelligence Agency of a terrorism suspect who is an American citizen has set off a debate over the legal and political limits of drone missile strikes, a mainstay of the campaign against terrorism. The notion that the government can, in effect, execute one of its own citizens far from a combat zone, with no judicial process and based on secret intelligence, makes some legal authorities deeply uneasy. To eavesdrop on the terrorism suspect who was added to the target list, the American-born radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who is hiding...

Atwater, Calif. (AP) -- Prison officials say a convicted child molester and kidnapper died last month after choking on a hot dog. Forty-five-year-old Frederick Fretz was serving a 20-year sentence at the federal penitentiary in Atwater.

University of Colorado regents voted 8-1 to fire controversial professor Ward Churchill this afternoon. Regent Cindy Carlisle, D-Boulder, cast the lone dissenting vote. There was no discussion. After the quick vote, dissenters in the crowd at the Glenn Miller Ballroom shouled "bullshit" and "cowards." Regent Steve Bosley, R-Louisville, introduced the motion for dismissal shortly after the regents convened, and it was seconded by Regent Kyle Hybl, R-Colorado Springs. Churchill supporters converged in the back of the ballroom after the vote, playing drums and chanting. The dismissal of the controversial professor is the first of its kind in CU’s 131-year history...

<p>Judge dismisses Valerie Plame's lawsuit accusing members of the Bush administration of leaking her identity... Developing..</p>

Even after he put him in prison for more than two years, Gary Brugman doesn't hate Johnny Sutton. But thousands of others across the country feel differently, professing a deep abhorrence for Sutton, the top federal law enforcer in San Antonio as the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas. Appointed to the job a month after the 9-11 attacks by longtime friend President Bush, Sutton has in recent months become the target of anti-illegal-immigration groups who say he's leading an unjust campaign against law enforcement officers, particularly Border Patrol agents, such as Brugman before he was convicted of...

A Butte County jury has found a Gridley supermarket not liable to pay civil damages to an illegal alien who slipped and fell on a grape inside the store. The plaintiff, who suffered a fractured kneecap in the incident, had sought over $400,000 through her lawyer for past and future medical expenses, and pain and suffering. The jury was not specifically told the shopper was an illegal alien, only that she "couldn't legally work in this country." Superior Court Judge Barbara Roberts read a stipulation to that effect to the jury after the woman's San Francisco attorney, Rafael Crespo Jr.,...

Jay Gillilland, a former U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer, has been sentenced to 6,242 years in jail for sexually exploiting his young daughter over the course of two years. Gillilland was arrested on drug charges in 2004 when police officers discovered child pornography on his home computer while executing a search warrant. During a subsequent search of a storage locker Gillilland had rented in Nogales, Arizona, officers discovered more than two hours of videotape depicting him sexually abusing his daughter, who was between six and eight years old at the time. Agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement...

The following is a partial transcript of the court hearing in which Richard Reid was sentenced to life in prison for his confessed plan to try and blow up a jetliner with explosives he had hidden in his shoes. The exchange is between Reid and Judge William Young. RICHARD REID: I start by praising Allah because life today is no good. REID: I further admit my allegiance to Osama bin Laden, to Islam, and to the religion of Allah. So, for this reason, I think I ought not apologize for my actions. I am at war with your country. JUDGE...

Richard Reid, the Al Qaeda follower who tried to blow up a transatlantic jetliner with explosives hidden in his shoes, was sentenced to life in prison yesterday by a judge who warned him: "We are not afraid ... we are Americans." The 29-year-old British citizen cried, "You will be judged by Allah!" before being dragged from the courtroom in handcuffs. Minutes before sentencing, Reid told the court he was unapologetic for his actions because he was "at war" with the United States. U.S. District Judge William Young pointed to the American flag behind him and said: "You see that flag,...