DAVID COLE IS VERY UNHAPPY with the way that the 1996 antiterrorism law is being used. He’s right to hate the law — in fact, though we never actually met except electronically, he and I worked as part of a group opposing the law in ’96 — but the problem is in a way worse than he makes it. Because it’s being used against people who could probably be prosecuted under narrower laws (Lynne Stewart, after all, is accused of conspiring with terrorists she represented to frustrate government surveillance so that they could pass on instructions to other terrorists) uses of this law are going to look solider later on. I don’t know what to do about that, though, besides criticize in the way that Cole is doing.

UPDATE: TalkLeft agrees.