Opinion: We the people

We the people

Eighth Amendment: Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

By CHRIS ZUPPA, Times Staff Photographer
Published August 12, 2007

[Chris Zuppa | Times]

Photo gallery:

We the people...

Related links:

Constitution of the United States U.S. National Archives and Records Administration

Ninth Amendment " "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."

Sixth Amendment "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to have the assistance of counsel for his defense."

First Amendment "Congress shall make no law ... abridging ... the right of the people peaceably to assemble ..."

First Amendment "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ..."

Fourteenth Amendment "No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States ..."

First Amendment "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom ... of the press."

Second Amendment "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringede."

Tenth Amendment "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people."

Eighteenth Amendment: Section 1 "After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors ..."

Related links:

Constitution of the United States U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
Ninth Amendment " "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."
Sixth Amendment "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to have the assistance of counsel for his defense."
First Amendment "Congress shall make no law ... abridging ... the right of the people peaceably to assemble ..."
First Amendment "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ..."
Fourteenth Amendment "No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States ..."
First Amendment "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom ... of the press."
Second Amendment "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringede."
Tenth Amendment "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people."
Eighteenth Amendment: Section 1 "After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors ..."

A periodic photo column exploring our constitutional rights in everyday action

The furniture has been moved out, clothes packed away. "God Bless Our Home" no longer hangs next to the front door. Birthdays were celebrated here, family meals cooked, prayers spoken. Many, many prayers. The FBI arrested a man here. In the eyes of his family, a devoted father and husband. The U.S. government alleged another devotion - aiding a terrorist organization. Some friends came here to offer support, other friends stayed away. It's late June, and Abdullah Al-Arian, 27, sits next to his 14-year-old sister Lama, writing a farewell speech for a farewell dinner. Their mother Nahla, 46, is torn. She wants to stay in their Temple Terrace home but feels she must take the two youngest of five children to Egypt, away from the turmoil caused by her husband's case. "Sami was presumed guilty years before he was charged with a crime," said Nahla, who is a U.S. citizen. "The children emotionally suffered. My youngest kids suffered a lot, so that's why I have to take them away, but my heart and mind will be here." Their father was imprisoned in 2003. A jury acquitted him on eight charges of terrorism in 2005 and deadlocked on nine others. Federal prosecutors planned to try him again. Just over a year ago, Sami Al-Arian entered a plea - pleading guilty to providing nonviolent services to associates of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad - in exchange for eventual deportation. He remains in a Virginia prison to this day on civil contempt charges. Nahla added, "Most of my life, I lived it here in the U.S.. I feel like I belong in America."

Chris Zuppa can be reached at czuppa@sptimes.com Meg Laughlin contributed to this column

[Last modified August 12, 2007, 09:01:49]

Share your thoughts on this story

Read our guidelines for comments

Comments on this article

by Issywise	08/12/07 09:25 AM
Funding terrorists is "non-violent?" Sami plead guilty and agreed to truthfully testify in other cases, which he refuses to do thereby extending his jail-term--as it would for you and I. Sympathy for his victims: his family among them, not for him.