Supreme Court To Hear Guantánamo Detainees’ Case

by William Glaberson - June 29th, 2007 - The New York Times

The United States Supreme Court reversed course today and agreed to hear claims of Guantanamo detainees that they have a right to challenge their detentions in American federal courts.

The decision, announced in a brief order released this morning, set the stage for a historic legal battle that appeared likely to shape debates in the Bush administration about when and how to close the detention center that has become a lightning rod for international criticism.

The exceptionally unusual order, which required votes from five of the nine justices, gave lawyers for detainees more than they had requested in a motion asking the justices to reconsider an April decision declining to review the same case. Lawyers for detainees had asked only that the court hold the case open for future consideration. Today’s order meant that the court would hear the case in its next term, perhaps by December.

Experts on the Supreme Court said the justices so rarely grant such motions for reconsideration that the order itself was significant. They said it signaled that the justices had determined they needed to resolve a new politically and legally significant Guantanamo issue, after two earlier Supreme Court decisions that have been sweeping setbacks for the administration’s detention policies.

I get a lot of emails criticizing my frequent reference to the U.S. Supreme Court Justices, and the entire federal bench, as unelected judicial tyrants. If this case goes the way the New York Times is so gleefully declaring, I will challenge anyone to criticize that view again.

The Supreme Court seems to be signalling that people dedicated to the destruction of our nation will be granted jurisdiction to challenge the ability of the executive branch to conduct war against them. Each one, even if not a U.S. Citizen, or even a legal resident, can challenge the right of the military to detain them when caught on the battlefield, no matter where on earth the battlefield is. These habeus corpus challenges will be a new right just for our enemies.

Our court, so dedicated to splitting hairs, never seems to have a clue how the enemies of our nation can use their rulings to damage our country. They have long ago abandoned any pretense that their rulings about rights are for the defense of the innnocent. It is well settled law now that technical violations of the rights of CRIMINALS can allow clear criminal behavior to be ignored. It is the reason our nation has such outrageous crime statistics.

Now they are going to extend these RIGHTS (not just to criminals but) to ENEMY SOLDIERS who are seeking to destroy our nation.

There is nothing in the Constitution that gives them this right. The Consitution clearly says that the legislature can determine what cases they can try. However the Constitution means NOTHING to these unelected judicial tyrants. The law of our nation means NOTHING to these unelected judicial tyrants. Survivival of our nation means NOTHING to these unelected judicial tyrants.

Welcome to the rule of judges.