The lost Padilla verdict

If there has been one common theme in the Bush administration's handling of the myriad legal challenges to its conduct of the "war on terrorism," it has been the government's tendency to change the playing field just when defeat seemed imminent. No case has better encapsulated this trend than that of onetime alleged "dirty bomber" Jose Padilla, who was convicted by a Miami federal jury Thursday on all three of the lesser terrorism charges against him.

By Stephen I. Vladeck

August 17, 2007