Surely today's a good day, no?
Finally a positive story about the US that's on top of the BBC site: the Supreme Court has ruled that the Bush administration's plans for military tribunals at Guantánamo are illegal.
Here's what I'd call the money quote, from section VII of the Opinion of the Court (written by Justice Stevens):
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.
Bravo.
Full text of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld available here.
posted by Unknown @ 4:09 PM
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6 Comments:
The BBC also quotes Hamdan's lawyer Neal Katyal as saying the following:
"I would caution those who say that this is kind of 'President Bush lost today.' President Bush didn't lose today; America and our founders won today, by adhering to our most fundamental values as a people."
Huzzah.
The ruling is a good one as far as it goes. You can almost hear the regret in Stevens' opinion that he cannot address the larger issue of indefinite detainment.
Some have pointed out, though, that this simply opens the door for Congress to step in and authorize Bush to ignore the Geneva Conventions. He wants to do it and the Republicans in Congress would love to let him: more Red Meat for the base, in line with their current strategy.
Gay marriage, flag burning, Iraq resolution, now Geneva Conventions--look for it. Rove is definitely back in business.
I don't know if anyone still cares about this thread, but here's some stunningly good news fresh off the wire on July 11. Not only did the Court uphold the Geneva Conventions for Gitmo detainees, but the administration actually plans to abide by the ruling, rather than ranting and raving about "activist judges."
Frankly, I'm speechless. Maybe keeping Rove out of the policy wing is paying off.
That is great news.
I heard it on the radio upon waking today, but assumed it was a dream or some sort of sarcasm. . . .
Amusing, in that msnbc piece, how Snow insisted that this was "not really a reversal of policy."
Did I miss something? Wasn't the case Hamdan v. Rumsfeld? Wasn't the administration arguing that the Geneva Conventions . . . oh never mind.
A sad state we're in, when I rejoice to hear that the president of the United States has merely agreed to uphold a law. . . .
Vladimir Putin tried out some material on the Today Show yesterday, in response to criticism from Cheney:
"These kinds of comments from your vice president amount to the same thing as an unsuccessful hunting shot."
(Rim shot)
I imagine it was all in the delivery.
Nonetheless, since we're praising the administration in this thread (sort of) I should acknowledge that in this case Cheney is more or less on the right side of this issue.
Putin; who knew?
As for praising the administration, I may have been a bit too quick. In fact, I probably should have expected this headline from today's Times:
White House Prods Congress to Curb Detainee Rights.
I suppose it's a sort of victory that such things now require prodding . . .
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