[NonValueAdded]

Isn't this a case of the system working properly? This CINO (citizen in name only) got a judicial review by means of a writ of habeus corpus but hopefully will receive justice in the end.

Note from the decision, clickable here that [emphasis added]:

We also conclude that Padilla’s detention was not authorized by Congress, and absent such authorization, the President does not have the power under Article II of the Constitution to detain as an enemy combatant an American citizen seized on American soil outside a zone of combat.

So it appears the "error" is we need to wait until CONUS becomes a zone of combat. Flashback to 9/11 - did you hear explosions?

[Thud]

The 2nd Circuit majority erred by reliance upon the "zone of combat" theory, which ignores the fact that the term is irrelevant to this conflict.

[mrsmith]

The dissent is excellent:
"Sadly, the majority’s resolution of this matter fails to address the real weakness of the government’s appeal. Padilla presses to have his day in court to rebut the government’s factual assertions that he falls within the authority of the Joint Resolution. The government contends that Mr. Padilla can be held incommunicado for 18 months with no serious opportunity to put the government to its proof by an appropriate standard. The government fears that to do otherwise would compromise its ability both to gather important information from Mr. Padilla and to prevent him from communicating with other al Qaeda operatives in the United States.
While those concerns may be valid, they cannot withstand the force of another clause of the Constitution on which all three of us could surely agree. No one has suspended the Great Writ. See U.S. CONST. art. I, § 9, cl. 2. Padilla’s right to pursue a remedy through the writ would be meaningless if he had to do so alone.
I therefore would extend to him the right to counsel as Chief Judge Mukasey did. See Padilla, 233 F. Supp. 2d at 599-609. At the hearing, Padilla, assisted by counsel, would be able to contest whether he is actually an enemy combatant thereby falling within the President’s constitutional and statutory authority."

The two democrat living constitutionalist judges are in fantasyland, totally missing the point.