reality-based educator

From the Washington Post:

The Supreme Court today delivered a stunning rebuke to the Bush administration over its plans to try Guantanamo detainees before military commissions, ruling that the commissions violate U.S. law and the Geneva Conventions governing the treatment of war prisoners.

In a 5-3 decision, the court said the trials were not authorized by any act of Congress and that their structure and procedures violate the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) and the four Geneva Conventions signed in 1949.

Justice John Paul Stevens wrote the opinion in the case, called Hamdan v. Rumsfeld . Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. recused himself.

The ruling, which overturned a federal appeals court decision in which Roberts had participated, represented a defeat for President Bush, who had ordered military trials for detainees at the Guantanamo Bay naval base. About 450 detainees captured in the war on terrorism are currently held at the U.S. naval base in Cuba. Trying them before military commissions would place them under greater restrictions and afford them fewer rights than they would get in federal courts or regular military courts.

Bush said he would consult with Congress to seek "a way forward" after the ruling, which reversed the appeals court ruling on statutory grounds, avoiding major constitutional issues.

Answering questions at a news conference with the visiting Japanese prime minister, Bush said, "The American people need to know that this ruling, as I understand it, won't cause killers to be put out on the street. . . . I'm not going to jeopardize the safety of the American people. . . . I will protect the people and at the same time conform with the findings of the Supreme Court."

The Court is not saying Bush has to let "killers...out on the streets". The Court is saying the Gitmo detainees cannot be tried in military star chambers. According to Hamdan's attorney, this decision means that if the government wishes to try Mr. Hamdan, they will have to do it in either a federal court or before a properly constituted court martial. A dissenting opinion written by Justice Pubic Hair said the Supreme Court's willingness "to second-guess the determination of the political branches that these conspirators must be brought to justice is both unprecedented and dangerous." Justice Stevens, however, wrote in the majority opinion

that although the Detainee Treatment Act implicitly recognizes the existence of the military commissions, it "contains no language authorizing that tribunal or any other at Guantanamo Bay." Moreover, neither the act nor a congressional authorization for the use of military force against terrorists in 2001 "expands the president's authority to convene military commissions."

In other words, these detainees have the right to a fair trial.

What a novel idea - forcing the Bush administration to abide by the law. Unfortunately there are four wankers on this Suprme Court ready, willing and able to give the Bush administration all the authority it wants to tear up the constitution, subjugate the other two branches of government and establish any old authoritarian precedents it wants in the name of the "war on terror." And the only thing standing in between those four wankers (Scalia, Scalito, Pubic Hair, and the Chief Justice) are Justice Stevens, Justice Souter, Justice Kennedy, Justice Breyer and Justice Ginsburg. If one of those five should go in the next two years and half years...