"We have assumed, as we must, that the allegations made in the Government's charge against Hamdan are true. We have assumed, moreover, the truth of the message implicit in that charge—viz., that Hamdan is a dangerous individual whose beliefs, if acted upon, would cause great harm and even death to innocent civilians, and who would act upon those beliefs if given the opportunity. It bears emphasizing that Hamdan does not challenge, and we do not today address, the Government's power to detain him for the duration of active hostilities in order to prevent such harm. But in undertaking to try Hamdan and subject him to criminal punishment, the Executive is bound to comply with the Rule of Law that prevails in this jurisdiction. The judgment of the Court of Appeals is reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings.It is so ordered."
*****
Thank you for the lesson in constitutional suicide, Justice Stevens.
I feel much safer now.
6 comments:
Your link requires a login, spd.
I fixed. Sorry.
And anyway, you really don't want to read Stevens' opinion. It'll make your hair hurt.
Thank you :) I wasn't trying to be a pest - I just realized sometimes when you're already logged in you can't tell that other folks can't get in. I worry about that a lot.
I worry more about terrorists than log ins. But that's just paranoid neo-con me. :)
C'mon spd, didn't you get the memo? The Constitution IS a suicide pact.
Seriously, don't you ever get the feeeling that Justice Stevens is the crazy old uncle in the attic that nobody knows with what to do?
Still haven't read all 187 pages of the opinion but from what I have read I don't think it's as bad for Bush as the initial headlines suggest or even your blog post here at HH. The Supreme Court upheld most of the conditions at Gitmo including including Administration's ability to hold enemy combatants without charging them as long as we say there is a war on terror. Bush et al should embrace the "gift" handed them by the decision that allows that if he works with the Congress he'll have the legitimacy to what he believes he should.
Regardless of how you view this decision, I think is important to keep in mind (shamelessly stolen from some talking head) that the remarkable thing about this case is that the US is probably the only country in the world where Osama Bin Laden's driver can get a Navy lawyer to take his case all the way up to the Supreme Court of the United States, and have it partially rule in favor of his rights.
I can't think of a better reminder of what we are celebrating as the fireworks on Tuesday mark America's birth.
Post a Comment