The Supreme Court (by slim margin): The U.S. Constitution is Still Valid!

<-- GITMO--US military base in Cuba (AP)

If you didn't know already, the Supreme Court has a marginal majority of more or less sane judges--something that will change (for better or worse) when the next president takes office. In another "stunning blow" to the Bush regime, SCOTUS, by 5-4, decided that the GITMO detainees have rights of habeas corpus (due process) even if they're foreign nationals. The high court reaffirmed the principle that the US constitution affords rights to persons (not just citizens) and that not even Congress can take away those rights. [here's the complete SCOTUS decision,in pdf]

Bush&Co thought to keep the enemy combatants on Cuban soil so that the laws of the United States didn't apply to them. There are hundreds of detainees at the US base in Cuba. Some of them are really bad people but some were caught in a wide dragnet when the US was paying thousands of dollars to local warlords to turn in "enemy combatants." You can imagine who accurate this was. Thus, the question is what should a person who's been caught & labeled "enemy combatant" do? Should the US detain such persons for ever without any charges filed against them? And, for no way for them to petition the courts? Of course not! If we are to remain a nation of laws, and not of men--like the Old Regime's elites that operated outside the law--then we have to maintain our high standards of legality of a civilized & liberal society.

What's also obvious, is that the country has to opt for a regime change in the White House, and for a Congress that will void the disgraceful Military Commissions Act. As the case Marbury v. Madison showed, the Executive and Congress cannot act in violation of the constitution. It also established the principle of judicial review--that the courts can rule on the legality of the actions by the branches of our government.

However, there are radical extremists on SCOTUS nowadays. Scalia, Thomas, Alito, and increasingly Roberts who want to reverse the progress the US has achieved in civil rights and liberties. Three of them are ready to overturn Roe v. Wade, and even demolish the separation of church & state--as Scalia & Thomas seem to think that such restrictions apply only to the federal government not the states!!!! Just think about this. Then make sure Bush&Co don't get a third term.

The nation is "at war with radical Islamists" and that the court's decision "will make the war harder on us. It will almost certainly cause more Americans to be killed."

Dissenting Justice Scalia

This is in line with Scalia's views on torture--that torture is OK as long as it is not punishment--as he argued in his recent interview on 60 Minutes. Sure, what a brilliant legal mind he's got! Our country has faced far greater enemies than the terrorists today, so there's no excuse for giving up those principles and conditions we've been admired for and have made our country great.

"The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times."

Justice Kennedy writing for the majority opinion of the Supreme Court