Posted on 06/29/2006 7:35:30 AM PDT by Uncledave
Supreme Court Blocks Bush, Gitmo War Trials Jun 29 10:21 AM US/Eastern Email this story
By GINA HOLLAND Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON
The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that President Bush overstepped his authority in ordering military war crimes trials for Guantanamo Bay detainees.
The ruling, a rebuke to the administration and its aggressive anti- terror policies, was written by Justice John Paul Stevens, who said the proposed trials were illegal under U.S. law and Geneva conventions.
The case focused on Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni who worked as a bodyguard and driver for Osama bin Laden. Hamdan, 36, has spent four years in the U.S. prison in Cuba. He faces a single count of conspiring against U.S. citizens from 1996 to November 2001.
Two years ago, the court rejected Bush's claim to have the authority to seize and detain terrorism suspects and indefinitely deny them access to courts or lawyers. In this followup case, the justices focused solely on the issue of trials for some of the men.
The vote was split 5-3, with moderate Justice Anthony M. Kennedy joining the court's liberal members in ruling against the Bush administration. Chief Justice John Roberts, named to the lead the court last September by Bush, was sidelined in the case because as an appeals court judge he had backed the government over Hamdan.
Thursday's ruling overturned that decision.
oh boy
War? What war?
You change the policy. No longer capture them you kill them, or turn them over to "local" authorities. You release the Gitmo detainees onto 3rd Ave. in NYC.
A great victory for the liberals, and their need to have all of our nations secret operations unveiled before the world.
The war on terror will last for years to come so guess the SC just sentenced him to death.
Oh, the response to this is easy: find the guys on the battlefield; ask them the questions we need to ask; and them shoot the ones who don't answer. No trials. No fuss, no muss.
So now what. Do we create a special place for terrorists and ask them if they'd like to go kill people or stay in paradise?
What do you expect from that group. They are MASS MURDERERS THEMSELVES...
AUTHORIZING THE MASS MURDER OF UNBORN OR HALFBORN BABIES
I guess the whole flag burning thing tops the "declare war already" thing on the agenda these days.
Since when does the Geneva convention apply to terrorists, who wear no uniforms, belong to the military of no country, have no authority for their actions, and do not observe the rules of war?
I am very disappointed in the S.O.B. Kennedy, who is once more showing his true colors.
We need another conservative on the Court, and preferably more, if we are ever to see an end of this lawless behavior.
If the administration had formally declared them to be prisoners of war, this would not have happened. Instead, they farted around with euphemisms like, "enemy combatants" and allowed a legal fog to gather.
Formal declared EPWs can be detained in accordance with the applicable international protocols until the end of the war. Now, these guys are going to be drowning in ACLU lawyers to spring them.
So what's stopping them from declaring the POW's now?
Bush should simply ignore the Court like Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln did.
The balance of powers depends on each branch jealously guarding its prerogatives under the first articles of the Constitution (in this case, the power of the CINC). Both the POTUS and the Congress have acquiesced to the notion of judicial supremacy.
The country is becoming a joke, incapable of defending itself, and we are asking our soldiers to fight and die for a bunch of buffoons.
Exactly. But I'm not holding my breath.
Beats me. I don't know why they weren't in the first place.
(Denny Crane: "Every one should carry a gun strapped to their waist. We need more - not less guns.")
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