Refreshing outbreak of common sense
From the NY Times:
The Supreme Court ruled today that people being held by the United States as enemy combatants can challenge their detention in American courts — the court's most important statement in decades on the balance between personal liberties and national security...
...Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote that the campaign against terrorism notwithstanding, "a state of war is not a blank check for the president when it comes to the rights of the nation's citizens..."
And there's more:
"Aliens at the base, like American citizens, are entitled to invoke the federal courts' authority," Justice John Paul Stevens wrote for the majority. "United States courts have traditionally been open to nonresident aliens."
...but wait - the Bush-slapping gets even better. Justice Stevens and some of his other Supreme Court colleagues seem to have suddenly grown back their cojones, after months of sheepish complacency. Taking issue with the technical decision in a related case, Justice Stevens also writes:
"At stake in this case is nothing less than the essence of a free society...For if this nation is to remain true to the ideals symbolized by its flag, it must not wield the tools of tyrants even to resist an assault by the forces of tyranny."
The Supreme Court ruled today that people being held by the United States as enemy combatants can challenge their detention in American courts — the court's most important statement in decades on the balance between personal liberties and national security...
...Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote that the campaign against terrorism notwithstanding, "a state of war is not a blank check for the president when it comes to the rights of the nation's citizens..."
And there's more:
"Aliens at the base, like American citizens, are entitled to invoke the federal courts' authority," Justice John Paul Stevens wrote for the majority. "United States courts have traditionally been open to nonresident aliens."
...but wait - the Bush-slapping gets even better. Justice Stevens and some of his other Supreme Court colleagues seem to have suddenly grown back their cojones, after months of sheepish complacency. Taking issue with the technical decision in a related case, Justice Stevens also writes:
"At stake in this case is nothing less than the essence of a free society...For if this nation is to remain true to the ideals symbolized by its flag, it must not wield the tools of tyrants even to resist an assault by the forces of tyranny."
