“In all the years I have been on the bench, I have never seen such an egregious violation of a court’s rule on witnesses.” In keeping with this administration’s penchant for cutting corners on civil liberties (and playing right into the hands of America’s critics), the trial of Al Qaeda operative Zacarias Moussaoui, the so-called “20th hijacker,” appears on the verge of mistrial after it comes out that government lawyer Carla Martin blatantly coached witnesses. Said Judge Leonie Brinkema: “This is the second significant error by the government affecting the constitutional rights of this defendant and, more importantly, the integrity of the criminal justice system in this country.” Update: Slate‘s Dahlia Lithwick tries to explain the strange “medical malpractice” reasoning at work in this death penalty case.