On the first anniversary of suspected "dirty bomber" Jose Padilla's detention in a military brig without access to counsel or charges, we recommend you read this speech by Judge Learned Hand from May 21, 1944 at the "I Am an American Day" ceremony held in Central Park, New York City. "Many thousands of people were present, including a large number of new citizens. Learned Hand's brief address was so eloquent and so moving that the text immediately became the object of wide demand. It was quickly printed and reprinted and also put into anthologies."

Here is but one great line:

Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it. While it lies there it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save it.

Jose Padilla, an American citizen, has been branded an "enemy combatant" and imprisoned for 13 months, 12 of which have been in sensory deprivation, all because of one man, Defense Department Advisor Michael Mobbs, and his two page declaration containing hearsay "intelligence."

[Received from Donald G. Rehkopf, Jr., Esq, co-chair of the Military Law Committee of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Our thanks to Donna Newman and Andrew Patel, lawyers for Jose Padilla, for never giving up and continuing to fight for Mr. Padilla's rights.]

Here's the latest from today's Miami Herald.