and certainly the center for constitutional rights, i can't say enough about you. first of all, give me your reaction, how you feel about today's judge's decision. nicholas? >> well, i'm certainly grateful for this decision, you know. this has been years in the making. and what this has done for it to be acknowledged in federal court, we all know this is an issue that happens in black and brown communities. but to have it transcend beyond is groundbreaking. and i'm certainly grateful that this is being acknowledged on this level. >> absolutely. i think it's a historical day. it's a day that is -- will be in the history books. and it's great. on a personal level, it would just absolutely overwhelming to hear the news. just emotionally to -- to -- to know that the city is acknowledging, you know, certain aspects of what is going on here is wrong. and to be at this point, it's been five years of all of this. to be at this point. >> and you were lead plaintiff. you were in the case. but give me the legal meaning of what this means in terms of law, in terms of history. h

he couldn't bear to go through those searches that was part senior attorney for the center for constitutional rights now of the nine prisoners who have died get most seven were by way of an apparent suicide the latest case was that of adnan latif who was found dead in his cell last september according to the autopsy on died by swallowing twenty four capsules of his anti-psychotic medication and prison officials have used steps to implement these invasive searches of prisoners before entering and leaving camp to make sure that the prisoners aren't smuggling pills according to officials there but i know it's attorney believes there's more to the story than what's being told in his unique insight into the conditions of imprisonment i get know as well as what life can be like after time served. he joins me now david remes human rights attorney welcome thanks for having me so the head of us south com general john kelly alleges that these new searches are result of. death. what happened you were his you were his attorney what happened and how do you explain get no administration's response to his death we

all the senior attorney yet center for constitutional rights in new york and brian do get technologist and open technology institute here in d.c. welcome to you both thanks so much for coming on thank you brian what do you make of this claim that the government isn't fully aware of the extent of snowden's leaks how can they not know what sort of info is taken off these networks well first it's incredibly disturbing that the that they actually don't know what was taken that know right that no audit trail was was created. the that's the type of abrogation of trust that the united states government needs to restore and that is why the president the united states needs to an in-state and independent x. sternal council of experts to review the n.s.a. . the n.s.a. spying but on all these systems that edward snowden was using they by default should be creating audit trails of every single action of every single administrator on the machine edward snowden was not the top level administrator of this machine he just happened to have access across domains at a top secret security level there is n

bear to go through those searches it was parties key realized senior attorney for the center for constitutional rights the goodwill horror stories are not isolated to just the detainees james e was a muslim chaplain at good will you serve there for less than a year in two thousand and two and his experience again will have a profound effect on him and he since read a book about his ordeal titled for god and country james he joined me earlier to tell his story. well i served in guantanamo as the muslim chaplain assigned to the detention camp. and basically after objecting to the the horrible conditions the enormous amount of abuse that was going on there then i was real roaded and accused of being a terrorist myself and that landed me in prison by the u.s. military what sort of stuff did you see at guantanamo. well i was very much aware of the qur'an being desecrated that was a big story that was exposed i think initially by newsweek magazine in two thousand and five that was happening when i was there there were reports and. stories from prisoners how they were maybe subjected to being put in you know

joining me now is attorney for the center for constitutional rights. the group that filed the lawsuit. and one of the plaintiffs in the ca case. thank you for being here. david, you've been stopped and frisked over 15 times in the past 10 years. tell me about that. >> i mean, you saw a lot of it on the screen on the clips you showed. it's hard to express what it -- you know, what it is to go through that on a daily basis. and to know that you have that coming for you in the future. you know, it's -- it's a hard thing to get across -- for people to understand. >> it's hard for people that have not gone through this to understand. especially when you've done nothing wrong. i mean, you're doing the normal, regular thing any citizen does. and all of a sudden you constantly are stopped by police. give people an example of what happened. >> one of the incidents i was helping my friend move some stuff in his apartment. he went outside to smoke a cigarette. we're sitting in front of his building and police start running at us with their guns drawed. they said e

for more on this topic i was joined earlier by a senior attorney at the center for constitutional rights new york and by brian dugan, technologist at the open technology institute in d.c. and i started by asking bryan about the government's claim that it is not fully aware of the extent of edward snowden's leaks. >> it is incredibly disturbing that they do not know what was taken, no audit trail was created. that is the type of abrogation of trust that the united states government needs to restore and that is why the president of the united states needs to instate an independent, external council of experts to review the nsa spying. on all these systems that edward snowden was using, they, by default, should be creating audit trails of every single action of every single administrator on the machine. edward snowden was not the top- level administrator of this machine. he happened to have access across domains at a top-secret security level. there is no excuse for any administrator to not keep logs of that type of information, and it is entirely disturbing and untrustworthy of the nsa to

to have this program and for all no doubt know that's a great question to raise and i think you're absolutely right you know the was a prior case by the center for constitutional rights which won today's case i believe it was decided in two thousand and three it also the n.y.p.d. was on the verge of ruling there by a judge and it agreed in a consent decree to adopt certain changes to its policies all of which seem to go up in thin air subsequently that's what gave rise to this suit so is that enough who knows we do know that an independent court monitor is being appointed and that will at least give someone outside the n.y.p.d. the opportunity to enforce the judge's decision but i do agree with you the rubber the proof is in the putting it will see when the rubber hits the road whether or not this lawsuit transit to be translates into meaningful as you said i mean we just said there's one thousand cases but what about all the other hundreds if not thousands of people who've been victimized i mean what where's the recourse for them i really can't help but wonder that but also try to i mean in light of all the n.y.p.d. criminal wrongdoing they're almost given ex

center for constitutional rights she says conditions at the prison my well contravene international law. these toxic tactics of solitary confinement have spotty searches among other things have been used to pressure them to break the strike one point i want to correct as a factual matter is transitions at one time or right now are not he said they are not named you have most of them and they are protesting for over three months in conditions of solitary confinement so there is not only a problem the definite illegal detention without charge at guantanamo right now but a question of serious serious questions about the united states is compliance with the geneva conventions in terms of humane treatment of these men and they are in twenty two to twenty four hour solitary confinement went on to ask one time authorities for a response to the accusations of facility representative says they were unwilling to comment on such claims regardless of how ridiculous and absurd they might be. and he arms embargo on syria officially expired this week which means there's nothing now stopping the block

center for constitutional rights and she says conditions of the president may will contravene international law these toxic tactics of. confinement whose body searches among other things. used to pressure the man to break the strike one point i want to correct is a factual matter is transitions at one time all right now i'm not he said they are not you have most of them and they are protesting for over three months in conditions of solitary confinement so there is not only a problem. and it's illegal detention without charge at guantanamo right now but a question of serious serious questions about the united states is compliance with the geneva conventions in terms of humane treatment of these men and they are in twenty to twenty four hour solitary confinement. or quantum authorities for a response to the accusations and the facility representative says they were unwilling to comment on such claims regardless of how ridiculous and absurd they may be. a new law against internet piracy has come into effect in russia it will enable authorities to shut down websites which carry copyright breach

i am an avid supporter of the center for constitutional rights. do not stand with them on the bradley manning issue but as they is drawing -- as they explore these issues, i do hope, -- that we begin to see more accountability. i have not seen any and 13 or 14 years and it will be a long way off. >> i started this by talking about this concept and in the community you are in, i am sure this has been something that has been discussed quite a bit. how your field on this issue? >> most terminal defense attorneys i know tend to be more liberal bent and they do perceive him as a hero. just for disseminating the information. some are like me, more centrist and we think in order for someone to be labeled like that, they need to have some postconviction punishment. civil practitioners are terrified that this amount of information which had some compromising information about american forces was disseminated at this level and they do not think 35 years was a sufficient sentence. pretty much along party lines. >> thank you for joining us. we appreciate it.

>> what the judge did, remember the floyd case was actually worked on by the center for constitutional rights, lawyers like johnson more, the floyd case clearly recognize the decision of floyd, the decision several months ago was gone, that the indignity and humiliation of being stopped and detained by police for no reason whatsoever except that you are a member of a racial group creates a psychological harm and is devastating. remember you have to put this in the context of what the city was saying to the world and in court. the city was basically arguing that because blacks and latinos commit or are arrested and charged with crimes at high levels, that we should use that measure to figure out who we are going to target. it got to the point of absurd ready when mayor bloomberg literally said if you look at the people who commit violent crime in the city of new york, white folks are being overstocked. white folks in new york are being stopped excessively and the two big points in the point that you just said, the first issue is i have been saying this for a long time but i am not here to deci

. >> vince warren, executive director of the center for constitutional rights. david sirota at salon.com. msnbc contributor james peterson. thank you very much. that "all in" for this evening.

. >> vince warren, executive director of the center for constitutional rights. ta at salon.com. msnbc contributor james peterson. thank you very much. that "all in" for this evening. the "rachel maddow show" starts live from north carolina, the frontline in the voting rights battle. good evening, rachel. >>> good evening, chris. it's a beautiful night here. thank you, my friend. i appreciate it. thanks to you at home for staying with us the next hour. we're bringing you this show this hour from not our usual home base with way more mosquitos than are usually ever on my face. here's why we're on the road. the day before the '08 presidential election, the morning of the day before the election, presidential candidate barack obama that day got a phone call in the morning telling him that his grandmother had just died. she had died at the apartment in hawaii where he had lived with her for a time when he was a boy. he had been raised partially by his grandparents, by his mother's parents. he was very close to his grandparents. very close to his grandmother. this was

. >> vince warren, executive director of the center for constitutional rights. david sirota at salon.com. msnbc contributor james peterson. thank you very much. that "all in" for this evening. the "rachel maddow show" starts live from north carolina, the frontline in the voting rights battle. good evening, rachel. >>> good evening, chris. it's a beautiful night here. thank you, my friend. i appreciate it. thanks to you at home for staying with us the next hour. we're bringing you this show this hour from not our usual home base with way more mosquitos than are usually ever on my face. here's why we're on the road. the day before the '08 presidential election, the morning of the day before the election, presidential candidate barack obama that day got a phone call in the morning telling him that his grandmother had just died. she had died at the apartment in hawaii where he had lived with her for a time when he was a boy. he had been raised partially by his grandparents, by his mother's parents. he was very close to his grandparents. very close to his grandmother

contributing writer for new yorker.com and darius charony is senior staff attorney for center for constitutional rights and represented the plaintiffs in the case against the city. darius, first of all, what was the reaction from your clients after the ruling? >> they were very gratified and felt very vindicated. for years this has been going on in the city and communities of color around new york. this is not news. this is their experience for more than a decade for years. so to have a federal judge vindicate what you've been saying and say that, you know, what you've been saying is true, this is racially discriminatory, a violation of your constitutional rights, we were very gratified. >> from a legal perspective here the city filing that appeal on friday. the city is also asking the judge to essentially delay implementation of the ruling. what happens next? >> they actually have not asked for the court to delay the implementation. they haven't asked for one yet. they may do that. we don't know. i think it's quite disappointing that the administration did this because they've really been presented wi

center for u.s. constitutional rights said this is a travesty of justice. where do you stand on the sentence? >> i think the sentence was outrageously long. 35 years for what bradley manning did i find to be outrageous. it doesn't look that way to some because he was charged, overcharged with sentences that could give him 136 years. so 35 years, well, that looks better than 136, but in my view of course bradley manning is a hero. he gave us the information that you just spoke about about iraq, about afghanistan, what happened in that diplomatic cable. he's a whistle-blower. he shouldn't have been prosecuted at all. i find it a particularly nasty piece of business when the people who actually carried out a lot of these crimes are not investigated or prosecuted, including the torture team from the bush administration. so 35 years for a truth teller and we need more and more truth tellers in this country i find to be an outrageously long sentence. >> so, michael, what do you make of the fact that wikileaks is saying it is a significant strategic victory. manning is eligible for release for nine y

they were suing together instant -- in concert with the center for constitutional rights, seeking bigolicy changes, seeking an end to the program. the permanent injunction that they won did that. tangible,e an actual, federal, individual right compromised, you always have that as a section of the law that provides for that. since you are polling questions from twitter, whatever we don't get to -- polling -- since you are pulling questions from twitter, whatever we don't get to in the program, i can answer on twitter as well. host: massachusetts. independent caller. go ahead. caller: i would like to see the law -- not law, the criminal justice system looked over. because they are doing drugs. they are doing everything. and why are we listening to them when they need guidance themselves. we need their protection. most of the time you hear a lot about them. and are turning around touching people that are .nnocent grandchildren got into pot. they were smoking it. there was a lot of it going on all over the place. righta very sick society now. when they get into the pot, they go to other t

subjected to the policy who were suing but they were suing together in concert with the center for constitutional rights seeking big policy changes and end to the program as we know it. and that permanent injunction they won did that. so there is more than one root to sue but really you can always -- if you have an actual tangible federal individual right compromise, you always have that as a section of the law that provides for that. i will mention since you're polling questions from twitter, whatever we don't get to in the broadcast i'm on twitter at re melber or if you use the presumed guilty hashtag i'll try to answer more after the broadcast as well. >> if you want to learn more they can go to msnbc/presumed guilty about the series. go ahead, sandra. >> i would like to see the law -- not law but the criminal justice system looked over because they're doing drugs. they're doing everything. and why are we listening to them when they need guidance themselves. we need their protection, yes. but most of the time you hear a lot about them. they're turning around and they are touching like people that are

>> what the judge did, and the florida case was worked on by the center for constitutional rights, andhe law firm of covington. the floyd case suggestions, the judge recognized the decision in floyd, and decision several months ago that the in dignity and humiliation of being stopped and he obtained by police for no reason whatsoever except that you are a member of a racial harm creates psychological and is devastating. remember that you have to put this in the context of what the city was saying to the world and the city was saying in court. the city was basically arguing that because blacks and latinos andit or are arrested charged with crimes at high levels that we should use that measure to then figure out who we would target fort stop and frisk practices. it got to the point of absurdity when mayor bloomberg literally said if you look at the people who committed violent crime in city of new york, white folk are being overstocked. yes, he did. city of newn the york are being overstocked excessively. here are the two big points, and this is the point you raise, barbara, on harm. the

sue nina patel, staff attorney for the center on constitutional rights who litigated the case of floyd versus the city of new york, which put stop and frisk on trial, and ara begatto, contributing writer of "the nation" and news editor for color lines. i want to start with you, suenita, because you did litigate the case. what are the results of judge schinlin's ruling? >> she put in place a monitor that's going to work with the new york police department and all the parties and the community to try to see real reform. what's really remarkable here is that the judge has said, the community has to be a part of the reform process. this is something that's common in police practice cases like this around the country, and that's what we'll be doing. we will be moving forward with the community and hopefully with the police department at the table. >> jamonte, what's been really remarkable has been the vigor with which the mayor has continued to defend stop and frisk. ray kelly, the police commissioner, they haven't backed down one eiota that stop and frisk works and that minority communitie

center. it was the harassment, intimidation. they wanted to stop people, to make it almost impossible for people to exercise their constitutional right. we had to continue to say to people, "you have a right to protest." dr. king would say, "you have a right to protest for what is right in an orderly, peaceful, nonviolent manner." and many of the young people that came out of the deep south, out of nashville, where we came under the influence of a man like jim lawson, we accepted nonviolence not simply as a technique or as a tactic, but as a way of life, as a way of living. we wanted to build what we called the beloved community, a community at peace with itself. in a sense where you forget about race and color and see people as people, as human beings. in sncc, we started calling ourselves a circle of trust. >> a circle? >> of trust. a band of brothers and sisters. that you have to respect the dignity and the words of every human being. so you could not strike someone or hit someone, even have an evil thought or even consider. and we truly believed there's a spark of the divine in every single one of us and that you don't have a rig

constitutional amendment. that process is very difficult. there is no affirmative right to vote in the constitution at all. >> we can't take anymore questions. we center to call it a day fori'm a long time state legislator in pennsylvania. i'm the chair of the committee. democratic minority chair, to be precise. the committee that has jurisdiction over voting rights. i very much appreciate the panel giving me a whole agenda for the remain of the legislative session. i support the institutional -- we have the institution -- constitutional amendment providing far constitutional right to vote in pennsylvania, right now we have a restriction in the state constitution. we have tried to get rid of that. we ought to be fighting on a constitutional right to vote. not just the restrictions in the state constitution. we ought to be -- fighting for people voting at age 60 as congressman conyers said. we want to be fighting for automatic registration for high school students. we can't pick a party for them. which is one of the parts question say they are automatically registered nonpartisan until they choose to be a part dan voters. and i think this is all very useful. very much appr