Timothy Lynch (Author at The Cato Institute)

Obama on Civil Liberties and the Drug War (Daily Podcast)

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST

Timothy Lynch reviews the FBI's first 100 years. (Weekly Video)

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EDT

In 1908, the Justice Department created the Bureau of Investigation, a small division of detectives that was responsible for investigating violations of federal law. The division was filled with incompetent and corrupt agents until a young bureaucrat by the name of J. Edgar Hoover was brought in to clean house. Hoover reorganized the division and renamed it the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and he served as its director for nearly 50 years. As the federal government expanded over the years, so did the power of the Bureau. Today, the FBI employs more than twenty thousand people and spends approximately $6.5 billion per year. Timothy Lynch, the director of the Cato Institute's Project on Criminal Justice, gives the agency a due evaluation.

Joe Biden: Drug Warrior (Daily Podcast)

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Cato Scholar Comments on Fourth Circuit Terrorist Detentions Ruling (Scholar Comments)

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Yesterday's Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in support of terrorist detentions is extremely important because it highlights once again the president's sweeping view of executive power.

According to the Bush Administration, the entire world, including all of the territorial U.S., is a "battlefield." That view has profound implications for all the constitutional safeguards we take for granted. Ali Al-Marri is a citizen of Qatar, but he was taken into custody in the U.S. When pressed as to the scope of the president's powers here at home, Justice Department lawyers say what can be done to Al-Marri can be done to any American. That means Americans can be arrested without warrants and jailed without trials.

The Supreme Court has checked President Bush with respect to his handling of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. It should now come to the defense of constitutional liberties here at home.

SCOTUS Gives Detainees a Day in Court (Daily Podcast)

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Cato Scholar Comments on Boumediene v. Bush Supreme Court Ruling (Scholar Comments)

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Today the Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling that affirms the "Great Writ" of habeas corpus. The Bush Administration has tried to keep the courts from reviewing its wartime policies. By warehousing prisoners outside of the United States, at Guantanamo, Bush's lawyers argued that habeas corpus was simply unavailable to any prisoner at that facility. The Supreme Court rejected that claim decisively when it said the test for determining the scope of habeas corpus "must not be subject to manipulation by those whose power it is designed to restrain." The president and the military will continue to have leeway to initially decide which terrorism suspects need to be arrested and jailed, but they do not have a blank check to jail anyone for all time. Even in wartime, the Constitution's separation of powers principles remain in effect and, as the Court noted, "few exercises of judicial power are as legitimate or as necessary as the responsibility to hear challenges to the authority of the Executive to imprison a person."