A number of important items this week, so let's get to it:

1. Tomorrow the California Supreme Court will hear arguments challenging Proposition 8, the ballot initiative that passed last fall to ban same-sex marriage. At stake are the unions of some 18,000 couples. Across the state today, protesters will mobilize to voice their opposition to Prop 8. Go here for a list of places and times.

2. On Monday, the CIA admitted to destroying 92 videotapes of interrogations of terror suspects. The revelation in a letter from the Department of Justice to a New York court, thanks to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by the ACLU.

3. Also on Monday, seven secret memos were finally released, revealing the legal architecture of behind Bush's actions in the so-called "War on Terror." As National Lawyers Guild president Marjorie Cohn writes, "All but one were crafted ... by the infamous John Yoo and Jay Bybee, authors of the so-called 'torture memos' ... In one memo, Yoo said the Justice Department would not enforce U.S. laws against torture, assault, maiming and stalking, in the detention and interrogation of enemy combatants."

Look for more on these important stories in AlterNet's Rights & Liberties section. Also, scroll down for an important New York event this Friday.

Thanks for reading,

Liliana Segura

Editor, Rights & Liberties Special Coverage

Thousands of Youth Descend on D.C. to Demand New Climate Change Policy
By Jessica Lee, Indypendent
Defying a major blizzard, students plan to take the Capitol by storm, with more than 2,500 ready to be arrested. Read more »

Disgraced Senior CIA Official Heads to Prison Still Claiming He's a Patriot
By Marcus Stern, ProPublica
The former No. 3 official at the CIA was sentenced to three years in federal prison last week for defrauding the government. Read more »

How a Man Was Thrown into Gitmo and Tortured for Clicking on My Article
By Barbara Ehrenreich, Barbaraehrenreich.com
America in the Bush years was so vicious and stupid that it managed to take my freedom of speech and turn it into someone else's living hell. Read more »

Obama Needs to Seek Justice for Bush's Crimes
By Cynthia Boaz, TruthOut.org
Directly punishing their predecessors is something done by tyrants in authoritarian regimes, not by democratic leaders in an open society. Read more »

Holder's Much Touted Speech on Race Lets White People Off the Hook
By Tim Wise, CounterPunch
Obama's Attorney General Eric Holder blamed personal cowardice for our racial divide, rather than institutionalized inequities. Read more »

Access Denied: Govt.'s Harsh Limits on the Reproductive Rights of Immigrant Women
By Kevin Sieff, Texas Observer
Countless women are sexually assaulted as they attempt to immigrate into the US, but have extremely limited reproductive rights in custody. Read more »

Secret Bush Memos Released: Read Them Here!
By Staff, Huffington Post
Memos about warrantless wiretaps and warrantless search and seizures released today. Read more »

Confirmed: CIA Destroyed 92 Interrogation Tapes
By Liliana Segura, AlterNet
The number is 'far higher' than the agency has ever admitted destroying. Read more »

Who Watched the 92 Torture Tapes Before the CIA Had Them Destroyed?
By Emptywheel, Firedoglake
I'm curious whether Cheney, David Addington, or John Yoo might be among the list of folks who checked out the tapes before they were destroyed. Read more »

Court to Review Gay Marriage Ban; Activists Gear Up for Protests
By Tana Ganeva, AlterNet
On Thursday the California Supreme Court will hear arguments against Prop. 8. Check out Wednesday night demonstrations in California. Read more »

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