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Two Takes: With 'Boumediene,' the Court Reaffirmed a Basic Principle

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I don't understand! Is our Constitution written for the USA or the world?
Why don't we just throw it out and let the U.N. write a new one?

Early of FL 11:14AM July 14, 2008

I have heard commentators call Boumediene a poorly reasoned opinion. It is not poorly reasoned, but it is poorly written. I wish that Justice Kennedy had the balls to write his opinion more like Mr. Balkin's commentary, or like Justice Souter's concurrance, both of which bore the indignant tenor the subject manner deserved. To my mind, the Bush administration's obvious attempts to "sneak one by" the Supreme Court more than justified the grant of cert. prior to the detainees' exhaustion of other remedies, and I wish that the decision made more of a point of highlighting this and the egregious circumstances of the Gitmo detainees. I think (hope?) that many who disagree with granting the Gitmo detainees Habeas rights don't understand just how little evidence it takes to overcome a prisoner's Habeas petition. Habeas petitions don't require the goverment to show evidence sufficient to convict--they only require the government to show that it didn't lock somebody up for no reason. We have nothing to fear from recognizing this right.

brad of PA 1:31PM July 03, 2008

Terrorists cannot begin to do the destruction to people on the mass scale of governments as witnessed by our own governments efficiency in killing hundreds of thousands of women and children in Afghanistan and Iraq, its detention of tens of thousands of people in USA prisons without charges.
The number of people killed in the Trade Towers on September 11, 2001 pales by way of comparison. More people die each week from pollution from unregulated mining activity in this country or die each day from lack of medical care.
Politicians are like magicians with misdirection so we look in one direction fearing terrorists while they ignore the US Constitution, the Bill of Rights, US treaties, and even fundamental ethics in their avaricious support of the 1% of the people that control 95% of this country's wealth.
Let us keep this in the proper context and not let the neo-cons latest boogy man cause us to go meekly like sheep to their slaughter. It is bad enough that sons and daughters are going to die in order to protect the profits of the energy corporations and their executives.

Bruce of CA 4:23PM June 24, 2008

I wonder if Amber of NV were detained in the United Kingdom, would she wish the Court to treat her on the same basis as a UK Citizen and giver her the habeas corpus rights to which he/she is entitled?
Or would the answer, "Sorry, you are not a British citizen, so tough! We can detain you for as long as we like without showing cause", be acceptable?
Amber can relax. Any human being is afforded exactly the same habeas rights in the UK as any other person regardless of nationality.
I find it not merely regrettable that it should even be suggested that a double standard should apply - it is plain racist.

mourad 4:50PM June 23, 2008

The system Bush set up lets the president and AG decide who can be called an Enemy combatant. Any citizen can be label an enemy combatant and be put into
3rd system of justice that Bush is trying to set up. This system is important to every US citizen because it can be used on you.
POWs are prisoners until the end of a war, the US court systems give citizens protections for a speedy trial but the Gitmo system of justice
You can be put in limbo or be tried by a kangaroo court. Reading this article shows the abuses of this system with secrecy and unchecked power
are not theoretical.
The Attorney General thinks that critics of torture are "hostile and unforgiving." We are. Good intentions pave the way to hell. Torture is against the law and a war crime. We are a nation of laws and if we don't follow then the constitution becomes Just a piece of paper. The Gitmo system of justice was a naked power grab. The Bush administration wasn't testing the edges of the law they were clearly trampling over them.
People looking for justice have been labeled unpatriotic radical lefty liberal wimps. We are strong because we have moral clarity and the law on our side.
We have faith in the constitution and the real American system of justice.

Joe of PA 11:11AM June 23, 2008

Well, someone forgot to tell this guy that the Bush Administration used precedent to come up with its solution to the detainee problem. Oh, and let's not forget that Abe Lincoln suspended habeas corpus to protect the Union.
The Constitution is, as so many have pointed out, a suicide pact. But the Court's ruling has now ensured that it now is.

Chris of AZ 2:32PM June 20, 2008

I'm not too sure, but isn't it possible to just extend the Habeas Corpus right to suspected American prisoners? This allows for a safeguard for our citizens, and for foreign prisoners to be afforded the rights that they deserve.

Amber of NV 9:45AM June 20, 2008