In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court voted today to give the right of habeus corpus to terrorist detainees lodged in the tropical halal resort at Guantanamo Bay, AKA Club Gitmo. The vote was along the expected lines, with Justice Kennedy siding with the Leftist members of the Court to provide the swing vote to make the majority.
Habeus corpus, for those of you unfamiliar with the term, is a right under the US Constitution that allows US citizens to challenge their incarceration in court. What this ruling means is that terrorist non-citizens now have the right to go to court before a federal judge who will determine whether the government has sufficient evidence that they committed crimes, and who may order the release of these men if the judge decides the government lacks grounds for holding them.
Aside from stretching the Constitution out of shape to cover non-citizens who basically amount to POW's, the Court's action also negates a system of military tribunals already okayed by Congress and signed into law.
This is why judges matter, a point I've made before.
Think of the implications. The Federal benches are loaded with farcical Clinton and even a few borderline senile Carter appointees who will now be able to order the release of enemy combatants based on the judge's opinion of whether they deserve to be incarcerated. And there's no limit to how insane this can get...was the prisoner read his Miranda rights? Did the soldier who captured him use excessive force? Is there any conclusive proof that the AK 47 found with the prisoner in that cave was actually used to fire at US soldiers? Anybody actually see the prisoner performing aggressive acts, or did he just look like he was about to? Was the prisoner allowed to talk to a lawyer before he was interrogated?
And what about discovery, the legal procedure that allows a defendant's lawyers access to all the evidence the prosecution has...including secret informants within groups like al-Qaeda, top secret methods of surveillance and even access to ongoing investigations on other related terrorists? How many jihadis will the US government have to kick loose simply because they can't afford to compromise US security operations in open court?
This is beyond insane, it's suicidal.
Senator McCain, to his credit has voiced concern over this nonsense in a preliminary statement. We'll have to see whether he expands on that later.
As for this bit of ridiculous judicial posturing, a lot of the dinosaur media are copying the AP line and labeling it 'a defeat for the Bush Administration.'
They couldn't be more wrong. It's a defeat for the United States.
2 comments:
in the words of andrew jackson, the court has it's opinion, now let them enforce it.
Okay. So we are going to send terrorists before judges who are friendly to their cause? This will likely be the case becuase the judiciary is virtually owned by the anti-American left. Perhaps the judges will feel differently when the terrorist they release turns out to be the terrorist who detonates a nuclear war head in an American city killing hundreds of thousands and perhaps millions of Americans. Maybe one of the people killed will be someone they care about. If oru current policies continue it is not a matter of will one or more nuclear bombs be detonated in American city or multiple cities. The question is when will it happen.
FF is spot on when he points out that this is not just a defeat for the Bush Administration but it is a defeat for America. Sadly with America facing existential threats from Russia, China, and Islamic terrorists the media has decided to declare war on the Bush Administration!!
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