TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2010


KLMNO THE NATION New challenge on campaign finance declined


SUPREME COURT WON’T HEAR CASE PAC-registration requirement remains in place


BY ROBERT BARNES TheSupremeCourtonTuesday


left in place a lower court’s deci- sion requiring groups to register as political action committees evenif theyspendmoneyin feder- al elections independent of the candidates or political parties. Itwasthesecondtimesince the


court’s controversial 5 to 4 deci- sion in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that the jus- tices have passed on a challenge that would again bring the issue of campaign finance to the court. This summer, it declined to


hear a suit from the Republican Party challenging restrictions in the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform act of 2002. That suit, unsuccessful in the lower courts, concerned limits on con- tributions to political parties known as “soft money,” which are at the heart of the act. On Tuesday, in Keating, et al v.


FEC, the court turned down a challenge from SpeechNow.org, which opposes candidates who favor restrictive campaign fi- nance laws. The group won a big victory when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Colum-


bia Circuit said it could accept unlimited donations to fund its ads.


But the group appealed anoth-


er part of the decision, which said it must comply with the disclo- surerequirementsthatcomewith being registered as a PAC. Eight of the nine members of


the court upheld disclosure re- quirements in the Citizens United case, which allowed unlimited spending by corporations and unions to support or oppose can- didates.As is customary,thecourt gave no reason for declining to hear the SpeechNow.org chal- lenge. The group and its supporters


decided to declare the glass more than half-full and touted the ef- fects of unlimited contributions. “Considering where we started —with severe limits on the ability


of individuals to join togetherand pool their funds for political ads —Americans are now much freer to associate with others and speak out for and against candi- dates,” Institute for Justice lawyer Steve Simpson said in a state- ment. More than 50 similar groups


are now operating as a result of decisions by the courts and the FEC, and outside organizations are spending an unprecedented amount of money in the midterm elections.


Miranda rights at issue The court did agree to decide


what role age should play in whether a criminal suspect must be advised of his Miranda rights when being questioned by police. The case, called J.D.B. v. North Carolina, involves the question-


ing of a 13-year-old special educa- tion student in his principal’s of- fice. Lower courts, including the


North Carolina Supreme Court, said the boy did not have to be advised of his rights to remain silent or have legal representa- tion because he was not in police custody when he acknowledged stealing from a nearby suburban home. The North Carolina court said


the Supreme Court’s guidance was that age was not a factor in deciding when Miranda protec- tion is extended. Even though relatives were not informed that the police had come to school and the boy — identified in court papers as J.D.B.—was in a closed room with school officials and investigators, he was not in what a reasonable person would con-


sider custody, the majority ruled. Three justices dissented


strongly. “The majority’s conclu- sion stands in stark contrast to our state’s public policy of aiding, supporting and protecting juve- niles,” wrote Justice Edward Thomas Brady. “The manner in which school


officials and law enforcement in- terrogated J.D.B. more resembles hunters carefully and selectively targeting their prey than a fair juvenile investigation.” It is the second case the court


has agreed to hear this term that concerns the questioning of stu- dents at school, although in a very different context. Other cases concern whether a warrant is necessary before police try to question victimsof sexual assault. barnesb@washpost.com


Plane bombsmore lethal than inDec. 25 attempt


German officials cite expert construction,


higher PETNamounts BY PETER FINN


AND GREGMILLER The two package bombs dis-


covered on cargo flights last week contained far more explosive ma- terial than the device that the alleged would-be underwear bomber planned to use last Christmas to down a Detroit- bound jetliner, according to Ger- man security officials. The officials said the bombs


were so expertly built that the wiringwasdifficult to detect even when seen in an X-ray image. The German officials, who


briefed reporters in Berlin, said thebombfoundonaUPSplane in England, which also passed through the Cologne-Bonn air- port, contained 15.11 ounces, or 400 grams, of the explosive PETN. The second device, found at a FedEx facility in Dubai, con- tained 10.58 ounces of themateri- al, a powerful plastic explosive. The PETN-based bomb found


PHOTOS BY JEFF CHIU/ASSOCIATED PRESS DoloresMejia, left, demonstrates against Arizona’s immigration lawat theU.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco.


Judge faults Justice in immigration case ‘preemption’ argument


Challenge of Ariz. law hits snag with


BY JERRY MARKON A federal appellate judge ex-


pressed deep skepticismMonday about a Justice Department law- suit challenging Arizona’s new immigration law, leaving uncer- tain the Obama administration’s chances of stopping the law from taking effect. Judge John T. Noonan Jr.


grilled administration lawyers at a hearing before theU.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco.He took aimat the core of the Justice Department’s argu- ment: that the Arizona statute is “preempted” by federal lawand is especially troublesome because it requiresmandatory immigration status checks in certain circum- stances. “I’ve read your brief, I’ve read


the District Court opinion, I’ve heard your interchange with my two colleagues, and I don’t un- derstand your argument,” Noo- nantoldDeputy SolicitorGeneral Edwin S. Kneedler. “We are de- pendent as a court on counsel being responsive. . . . You keep saying the problemis that a state officer is told to do something. That’s not a matter of preemp- tion. . . . I would think the proper thing to do is to concede that this is a pointwhere you don’thave an argument.” “With respect, I do believe we


have an argument,” said Knee- dler,who asserts that the Arizona law is unconstitutional and threatens civil liberties by sub- jecting immigrants legally in the United States to “interrogation and police surveillance.’’ The exchange came at a hear-


ing on efforts by the Justice Department to overturn the Ari- zona law,which empowers police to question people they suspect are in the country illegally and has triggered a fierce national debate. A federal judge in Phoe- nix issued a July injunction blocking the law’smost contested


An unidentified supporter of the immigration lawjoins demonstrators at the court, which is hearing a Justice Department challenge of the state-level regulations that target illegal activity.


provisions fromtaking effect. Ar- izona appealed, leading to the Monday hearing. With Noonan, an appointee of


President Ronald Reagan, so bluntly stating his views, legal experts said the government’s chances of having the injunction upheld may rest with the other judges on the panel: Carlos T. Bea and Richard A. Paez. Bea is also a Republican ap- pointee and tends to vote with


the court’s conservative wing, which could help Arizona’s chances. Paez is a Democratic appointee. But Bea and Paez areHispanic,


and it is Hispanics who are most upset about the Arizona law. “Perhaps this is one area where Bea might not vote as a so-called conservative because he himself is an immigrant,’’ said Arthur Hellman, a University of Pitts- burgh law professor and an ex-


on Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian accused of attempt- ing to bring down a Northwest flight from Amsterdam to De- troit, weighed 2.82 ounces. Meanwhile, U.S. officials dis-


pert on the 9th Circuit. Bea did not make his position


clear duringMonday’s argument, but he sharply questioned Arizo- na’s attorneys. “Your argument that a state can take a look at whether the federal government is not enforcing its laws. . . . You can enforce laws for the federal government?” he asked. “If I don’t pay my [federal] income taxes, can California sueme?’’ Whatever the result, the pan-


el’s decision is the first step on a long road: Legal experts expect the case to reach the Supreme Court. It is unclear when the panel will rule. The Justice Department law-


suit, filed in July, triggered oppo- sition from Republicans but praise fromcivil rights groups. U.S. District Judge Susan R.


Bolton in July put on hold provi- sions of the law that would re- quire police to check immigra- tion status if they stop someone while enforcing other laws, allow for warrantless arrests of sus- pected illegal immigrants and criminalize the failure of legal immigrants to carry their docu- mentation. Kneedler, a widely respected


appellate lawyer, urged the judg- es to uphold the injunction while the federal lawsuit proceeds. “This is an extraordinary state statute,” he told the judges, say- ing that provisions such as the criminalization of failure to carry registration papers “are clearly preempted . . . it’s a direct regula- tion of immigration.” Arizona’s lawyer, John J. Bou-


ma, defended the law’s constitu- tionality and said Arizona passed it because of “a federal govern- ment that has been unable or unwilling to solve” the illegal immigration problem. Civil rights groups have said


the law targets Hispanics, but Bouma, a leading Phoenix lawyer, objected to that characterization. “Arizona has a long and proud tradition of a Hispanic popula- tion, and nobody is trying to take away fromthat,’’ he said. markonj@washpost.com


Staff researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.


closed Monday that authorities had tracked earlier suspicious packages from al-Qaeda’s Yemen- based affiliate in September, at- tempts now seen as potential test runs for the foiled bombing at- tempt a month later. A U.S. official said that three September shipments were also sent to an address or addresses in Chicago and contained books and religious literature, but no explo- sives . The official, who was not authorized to speak publicly on the subject, said that the packag- es were intercepted because of intelligence indicating that they had been sent by a person affiliat- ed with AQAP. One or more of the packages


was allowed to continue to Chica- go, but the U.S. official said that the concerns raised by that epi- sode — first reported by ABC News — help to explain why the U.S. reaction was so swift to the Saudi intelligence tip last week . The shipments of earlier pack-


ages might have enabledAQAP to monitor their delivery tracking services commonly available on shippers’ Web sites, information that might have been used in connections with timers or other devices to maximize the damage caused by subsequently sent bombs. Both of the bombs discovered


last week were encased in ink cartridges. One German official described the design as “highly professional,” saying that someof the wires were so well disguised they they looked like cables for a printer. Other wires were so thin


they couldn’t be seen on anX-ray, the official said, echoing other analyses in recent days that the bombscould beatX-ray machines and bomb-sniffing dogs. The bombs are believed to be


the handiwork of Ibrahim Has- san al-Asiri, a Saudi national ac- tive in al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the group behind the Christmas Day plot, among other conspiracies. Explosive experts say that the


amount of PETN in the ink car- tridges could have brought the planes down. Jimmie Oxley, co-director of


the Center of Excellence for Ex- plosives Detection, Mitigation and Response at theUniversity of Rhode Island, said that if the packages ended up on a pallet surrounded by other cargo, the planes could have survived an explosion, but that if they had been placed near the skin of the planes, detonations could have destroyed the aircraft in mid-air. “I’ve been involved in blowing


up luggage, and placement deter- mines everything,” Oxley said. Both packages were addressed


to synagogues in Chicago, and Oxley said either could have killed someone if it had exploded while being opened. Germany on Monday said it


would halt direct passenger flights between Germany and Ye- men; Britain took a similar step in January after the failed Christ- mas Day bombing attempt. There are no direct flights between the United States and Yemen. Britain announced onMonday


that it would extend a ban on unaccompanied freight from Ye- men to Somalia, citing links be- tween terrorists in both coun- tries. Home Secretary Theresa May also said she was banning large ink toner cartridges in hand luggage. She also temporarily banned the transport of ink car- tridges in air cargo. May said Britain’s security ser-


vices had no information that other packagebombshave eluded detection. The explosives in Dubai and England were intercepted after Saudi officials tipped off theUnit- ed States and other countries that bombswerein transitandprovid- ed tracking numbers of the ship- ments to help intercept them. Yemeni officials said Monday


that the Saudis were told of the plot by Jabir al-Fayfi, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, who fled the kingdom after his release by the Bush administration in 2006. But Gregory Johnsen, a doctor-


al candidate at Princeton Univer- sity and an expert on Yemen, noted in his blog, Waq al-Waq, that al-Qaeda in the Arabian Pen- insula announced Fayfi’s arrest on Sept. 6, which seems too far removed from the latest plot to make him a credible informant.A U.S. official concurred . finnp@washpost.com


millergreg@washpost.com


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