Supreme Court Affirms Detainees' Right to Trial

This is good news.

The court said the president may order a U.S. citizen detained as an “enemy combatant” — but soundly rejected the administration’s expansive interpretation of that authority, ruling that such detainees are entitled to contest the government’s case against them.

And further

Each of the 595 alleged members of al-Qaida and the Taliban being held at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has the right to ask a U.S. judge to set him free.

If you don’t think that this is good news then I ask you if you fully endorse secret military tribunals with little or no oversight and dissolving a person’s right to know why they’re being held in Guanatamo – a ‘no man’s land’ of international law. Out of any of the proceedings of the last four years – this has been one of the worst – the idea that the Chief Executive alone has the right to decide the fate of individuals based on his whims and preducies. Sandra Day O’Connor confirmed:

We long have made it clear that a state of war is not a blank check for the president when it comes to the rights of the nation’s citizens.

Being jailed without trial indefinitely and never told why you are imprisoned. That’s not something you should find in a self-proclaimed ‘home of the free’.

Imagine if these detainees were white Christians.


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5 responses to “Supreme Court Affirms Detainees' Right to Trial”

  1. a from l Avatar
    a from l

    And what is happening to the detainees held at Diego Garcia? How can one nation, supposedly governing a colony for the benefit of its indigenous population, clear an island of its Ilois population (who are deported one thousand miles away where they live in poverty) and then “give” the island to another nation with no strings attached? How is that possible? Unless we are living in a mad world where the rights of individuals mean nothing.

  2. Andy Avatar
    Andy

    Unless we are living in a mad world where the rights of individuals mean nothing.

    Yeah – good summation!

  3. Michlt Avatar

    It is such an anomaly in US justice and constitutional law that these guys get NO represenation at all. Two frigging years!!! Imagine yourself in prison for 2 years with no recourse to a lawyer and no clear idea as to the exact charges against you. If the government can make a real case then FINE! But holding folks without verifiable cause is criminal, unconstitutional, unamerican. Criminal!!! And Bush is directly accountable.

  4. Andy Avatar
    Andy

    Great explanation (audio/text) of the decision over at DemocracyNow.

  5. Andy Avatar
    Andy

    Great quote from that segment

    And the good thing about it is, after the decision came down yesterday, law firms have been calling us night and day to say that they are willing to help.