it looks like the bush justice department got its first jury conviction in a terrorism prosecution. unfortunately the conviction of a lawyer for actions she took while representing a person accused of terrorism does not make me feel any safer. all this case is likely to do is to make it harder for people accused of terrorism to get effective counsel, which increases the chances of false convictions in the future and makes us less safe in the long run.
this is not a done deal yet. there's still a strong possibility that the case gets overturned on appeal because the prosecution of an attorney for her work arguably violates the first, fourth and fifth amendments. i don't do criminal defense work, the decision to prosecute someone under these circumstances does not pose any personal threat to me (at least not as far as i can discern). but prosecution of attorneys for defending unpopular people is a practice i am more used to seeing in dictatorships than democracies. the implications of this case are very disturbing
