Lawmaker offers 'modest bill' for detainees (move them to Supreme Court grounds)

politico.com ^ | July 25, 2008 | Rep. Louie Gohmert

[Free ThinkerNY]

After reading through Boumediene v. Bush, I cannot help but feel that it is simply about the judiciary expanding its own power by usurping the clearly defined constitutional powers of Congress and the president. In essence, the Supreme Court ruled in this case that when Congress and the president followed the decisions the court itself made in crafting law regarding enemy combatants, they did not act within the bounds of our Constitution.

As Chief Justice Roberts noted in his dissent, “The DTA [Detainee Treatment Act] system of military tribunal hearings followed by Article III review looks a lot like the procedure Hamdi blessed. If nothing else, it is plain from the design of the DTA that Congress, the president and this nation’s military leaders have made a good faith effort to follow our precedent. The court, however, will not take ‘yes’ for an answer.”

When the Supreme Court makes a ruling, America listens. Congress believed that the Supreme Court would follow its own rulings and the precedents it set when it ruled in the 2004 Hamdi case, the 2006 Hamdan case, and the 1950 Eisentrager case.

In his dissent in Boumediene, Justice Antonin Scalia said the court's decision means the "[handling of] enemy prisoners in this war will ultimately lie with the branch that knows least about the national security concerns." If the high court is going to exceed its jurisdiction and endanger the American people, at least we can help it do a better job by seeing that it has a little skin in the game with some hands-on experience.

The Supreme Court clearly is exercising self-appointed war powers in order to micromanage the handling of international terrorists. By transporting all of the detainees to the court's grounds, my bill, H.R. 6615 —

[Free ThinkerNY]

[Impy]

My pan for dealing with the "detainees".