Saturday, June 30, 2007
Ominous Order
Yesterday the Supreme Court issued an order agreeing to hear (probably in December) a case they had earlier passed on regarding whether the illegal enemy combatants held in Guantanamo had a constitutional right to a habeas corpus writ. The extremely rare reversal means that 5 justices voted to issue the order, which by chance is how many justices it takes to issue the decision of the court. We right thinking types can cling to the hope that the justices thought they needed to say "Heck no!" in a big written opinion rather than the silent no not granting a writ of certiorari to the lower court's decision actually is, but it's not a comfortable position to take. It is, alas, much more likely one of the lefty philosopher kings persuaded Kennedy that the issue needed a hearing and an opinion. Apparently, there have been 24 recent 5-4 decisions and Kennedy has been on the winning side of each of them.
The Supreme Court has already decided this matter in Johnson v. Eisentrager (1950). (See also Ex Parte Quirin). There is absolutely no need to revisit it. The Constitution does not apply to the World in general, but only to the people in the United States or its territories and to its citizens anywhere. It is an extremely bad idea, not just run of the mill stupid, but wholly idiotic and somewhat suicidal, to give foreigners fighting against us access to the courts. It ties up the courts and the witnesses, it hands over information during discovery which we should never give our enemies, and, in this particular case, it would elevate the scum like illegal combatants ABOVE the soldiers fighting by the rules by giving the former more rights than the latter. Surely there are not just 4 of the smart guys and gal on the Supreme Court who see this.
Upon final reflection, it's just possible that with the less than logically rigorous decision of the 4th Circuit panel in Al-Marri v. Wright, which dealt with infiltrators but not battlefield combatants, the Supremes thought they needed to hear the constitutional arguments regarding the battlefield illegal combatants at the same time. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
The Supreme Court has already decided this matter in Johnson v. Eisentrager (1950). (See also Ex Parte Quirin). There is absolutely no need to revisit it. The Constitution does not apply to the World in general, but only to the people in the United States or its territories and to its citizens anywhere. It is an extremely bad idea, not just run of the mill stupid, but wholly idiotic and somewhat suicidal, to give foreigners fighting against us access to the courts. It ties up the courts and the witnesses, it hands over information during discovery which we should never give our enemies, and, in this particular case, it would elevate the scum like illegal combatants ABOVE the soldiers fighting by the rules by giving the former more rights than the latter. Surely there are not just 4 of the smart guys and gal on the Supreme Court who see this.
Upon final reflection, it's just possible that with the less than logically rigorous decision of the 4th Circuit panel in Al-Marri v. Wright, which dealt with infiltrators but not battlefield combatants, the Supremes thought they needed to hear the constitutional arguments regarding the battlefield illegal combatants at the same time. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Labels: Supreme Court; Habeas Corpus Illegal Combatants
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 7:11 AM 
