George W.Bush

The Education of George W. Bush

By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Thursday, June 12, 2008; 1:25 PM

President Bush's slow and painful schooling in constitutional law continued today as the Supreme Court ruled for the third time in four years that he had violated a basic precept of the American legal system.

The court ruled 5-4 that Bush cannot deny prisoners at Guantanamo Bay the right to challenge their detentions in federal district court. Some of them have been held already -- without charges -- for more than six years.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the court, determined that the prisoners in the U.S.-run facility "have the constitutional privilege of habeas corpus. . . ."

(In other words, BushCo broke the law.)

~ snip ~

The Supreme Court decision was close -- one vote made the difference. And the dissent was bitter. Mark Sherman writes for the Associated Press: "In dissent, Chief Justice John Roberts criticized his colleagues for striking down what he called 'the most generous set of procedural protections ever afforded aliens detained by this country as enemy combatants.'

"Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas also dissented.

(One. Fucking. Vote. AAAARGH!)

"Scalia said the nation is 'at war with radical Islamists' and that the court's decision 'will make the war harder on us. It will almost certainly cause more Americans to be killed.'"

(No. The invasion and occupation of a nation which did not pose a threat to us is what's going to almost certainly cause more Americans to be killed.)

Full piece available at link.

Man, I dig that Mr. Froomkin. By Dan Froomkin Special to washingtonpost.com Thursday, June 12, 2008; 1:25 PM ... more

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