A blind sheik, his lawyer, and a couple Amendments

Andrew C. McCarthy, who led the 1995 terrorism prosecution against the Blind Sheik and accomplices, has some criticisms of Fox News and Judge Andrew Napolitano, one of their columnists on the Lynne Stewart case:

As Napolitano puts it:

Just after 9/11, Attorney General John Ashcroft gave himself the power to bypass the lawyer-client privilege, which every court in the United States has upheld, and eavesdrop on conversations between prisoners and their lawyers if he had reason to believe they were being used to "further facilitate acts of violence or terrorism." The regulation became effective immediately.

Of course, had Napolitano taken the few minutes necessary to read the indictment (which is freely available online), he might have learned that all of the conversations and actions that resulted in Stewart's conviction took place about two years or more before the post-9/11 regulation (which the, er, Judge, in any event, mischaracterizes). That is: before George W. Bush was president, before John Ashcroft was attorney general, and before 9/11 ever happened. This investigation was very ably conducted by, and took place under the auspices of incontestably proper regulations imposed by, the Clinton Justice Department.

As the indictment explains, and as those of us who actually followed the trial well know, Attorney General Janet Reno began curtailing the Blind Sheik's prison privileges in April 1997 — i.e., a year-and-a-half after his conviction.

It looks like Lynne Stewart will be spending the rest of her life in prison for helping terrorists. Which beats the fate of 58 tourists the sheik's followers murdered in an attempt to get him released.