April 6, 2009

Stuart Taylor, Jr. favors a full domestic inquiry into the abuse of detainees, but also says the Obama Administration "needs to slap down an insult to U.S. sovereignty now brewing in the Spanish courts" under the long arm of "universal jurisdiction". The U.S.-based Center for Constitutional Rights, which benefits from multiple ties to liberal foundations and prestige law-school programs, and in turn describes itself as an "active member" in groups like the Alliance for Justice, has been one group campaigning for such a prosecution. Among the "human-rights" lawyers behind the Spanish complaint, writes Taylor, is "one Gonzalo Boye -- who served time for his role in a left-wing terrorist group's 1988 abduction of a Spanish businessman for ransom". Earlier here.

More: Jeremy Rabkin and Mario Loyola, Weekly Standard; Julian Davis Mortensen, Slate; Mark Hemingway, NRO "Corner" (noting the New Yorker's favorable treatment of lawyer Philippe Sands).