Recentt Updates on some class issues

Addington, Yoo Clash With Lawmakers Over "Torture" Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, David Addington, and former Justice Department official John Yoo yesterday appeared before the House Judiciary Committee, where lawmakers confronted them with harsh questions about the US' post 9/11 interrogation policy. The Washington Post reports, "Two key architects of the Bush administration's controversial interrogation policies defended their legal positions yesterday, sparring with House Democrats over whether discredited Justice Department opinions led to mistreatment of military and CIA detainees." The Wall Street Journal reports members of the committee "got scant new information from Mr. Addington, an enigmatic figure who rarely speaks in public, and from another witness, John Yoo, who during his tenure in the Justice Department helped draft what critics call the 'torture memos.'"
The AP reports Addington "refused to claim any responsibility for the adoption of harsh interrogation methods following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks during a combative exchange with congressional Democrats." Addington "denied several reports that he was involved in the drafting of a key memo that the Justice Department later rescinded."


Senate Delays FISA Vote The AP reports the Senate yesterday delayed voting on a bill amending the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, "in spite of what appeared to be overwhelming support for the bill." Sen. Russell Feingold "and more than a dozen other senators who oppose telecom immunity threw up procedural delays that threatened to force the Senate into a midnight or weekend session."


Court Strikes "Millionaire's Amendment" USA Today reports the Supreme Court "ruled that the so-called 'millionaire's amendment' violates self-funded candidates' First Amendment right to free speech." The law "is triggered when House candidates donate more than $350,000 to their campaigns," and once "the provision kicks in for self-financed House candidates, their opponents can raise up to $6,900 per donor in each election -- three times the normal limit."
The Washington Post reports the court "dealt another blow yesterday to the landmark 2002 campaign finance law crafted by Sens. John McCain and Russell Feingold, declaring unconstitutional a provision that eased fundraising restrictions for political candidates running against wealthy opponents who were bankrolling their own bids for federal office." Roll Call reports the court said the law "designed to protect Members who are facing wealthy challengers [is] 'fundamentally at war' with federal campaign expenditure and contribution limits."
The New York Times reports the Supreme Court "has upheld campaign finance laws meant to drive the potentially corrupting influence of large contributions out of politics. But the millionaire's amendment, part of the 2002 McCain-Feingold campaign finance law, is based on a different rationale: that of compensating for the additional financial resources available to candidates willing to spend their own money." The Wall Street Journal reports "campaign-finance-overhaul advocates were disappointed by the court's decision, arguing that the amendment had helped level the playing field in congressional races."