Federal Circuit Court Judge Marcia Cooke has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that regardless of what transpires at the trial of Jose Padilla, nothing will deter her from ensuring that this trial moves forward, ends and a verdict is handed down. Nothing. The jurors even seem to have a sense of the inevitability in the air, and if so, they took the opportunity to revel in it just prior to the

It’s a holiday. The Padilla trial is not in session, but if the prosecution wanted to identify a better expert on terrorism than Pentagon-puppet Rohan Gunaratna who testified last week, they would spend the time off reading Jessica Stern’s astonishing 2003 book Terror in the Name of God – Why Religious Militants Kill.

Where the defense attorneys at the Padilla trial likely scored some points was with their cross examination of the prosecution’s expert witness, Rohan Gunaratna. He responded to a question about whom he had worked for in the past with a variation on the classic -- I-could-tell-you-but-then -I’d- have -to-kill-you response.

Federal District Court Judge Marcia Cooke has made a decision that Jose Padilla’s lawyers and others believe will cause a mistrial. At worst, should Padilla be convicted, it will be the Judge’s ruling that will play a significant role in a probable reversal by the Supreme Court, even one that has turned so sharply to the right.While it may or may not be a legal blunder, Judge Cooke’s decision is

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