Free Republic

Mr. Hamdan, We're Ready For Your Closeup Aug. 17, 2008(CBS) Attorney Andrew Cohen analyzes legal issues for CBS News and CBSNews.com.Of course George Clooney’s production company has just purchased the rights to a book written about Salim Hamdan, the most famous mechanic and driver in the history of the world. The sensitive star knows a good story when he sees one, and Hamdan’s story (the final chapters of which have yet to be written) over the past six years surely ranks as one of the best of the decade. Hamdan drove Osama bin Laden for a while (imaging having that...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A federal appeals court Wednesday overturned part of a sweeping 1996 anti-terror law that prohibits financial assistance or "material support" to organizations classified as terrorist by the State Department. The government has increasingly used the law to prosecute suspected terrorists, and the ruling could be a blow to the Bush administration's legal strategy in the war on terror.The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that it is unconstitutional to punish people - sometimes with life in prison - for providing "training" or "personnel" to a terror group, categories the judges called overbroad. The...