This makes me queasy...
Available here...
I have four reasons why this makes me queasy: Roberts, Alito, Scalia, and Thomas.
Alito was handpicked because of his support for the unitary executive theory. I doubt very much he will rule against he administration on any issue dealing with detainees or their rights under our system. Roberts is something of a cypher. He was only a federal judge for about three years before being appointed to the bench, and he was in private practice for years, so there's no real paper record where he stands. Scalia has come out and said he thinks the idea of the "killers" in GITMO getting access to our courts "in a time of war" is absurd. And Thomas is a Bush family stooge.
That leaves Kennedy as the swing vote. Though he has sided with the conservatives on most of the issues this term, there is reason to hope he'll do the right thing here. Kennedy wrote the majority opinion in Hamdan (I believe) so the idea of placing human beings in a legal blackhole appears to be an anathema to him. Additionally, the court has not been friendly to Bush's new legal theories regarding warfare and the executive's place in it.
We'll see...this could get very interesting.
Quote:
| 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. |
I have four reasons why this makes me queasy: Roberts, Alito, Scalia, and Thomas.
Alito was handpicked because of his support for the unitary executive theory. I doubt very much he will rule against he administration on any issue dealing with detainees or their rights under our system. Roberts is something of a cypher. He was only a federal judge for about three years before being appointed to the bench, and he was in private practice for years, so there's no real paper record where he stands. Scalia has come out and said he thinks the idea of the "killers" in GITMO getting access to our courts "in a time of war" is absurd. And Thomas is a Bush family stooge.
That leaves Kennedy as the swing vote. Though he has sided with the conservatives on most of the issues this term, there is reason to hope he'll do the right thing here. Kennedy wrote the majority opinion in Hamdan (I believe) so the idea of placing human beings in a legal blackhole appears to be an anathema to him. Additionally, the court has not been friendly to Bush's new legal theories regarding warfare and the executive's place in it.
We'll see...this could get very interesting.
