Supreme Court Gives Detainees Habeas Rights....

[Mr. Peabody]

Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Scalia, Thomas, and Alito dissented.

Court gives detainees habeas rights
Thursday, June 12th, 2008 10:08 am | Lyle Denniston | Print This Post

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In a stunning blow to the Bush Administration in its war-on-terrorism policies, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday that foreign nationals held at Guantanamo Bay have a right to pursue habeas challenges to their detention. The Court, dividing 5-4, ruled that Congress had not validly taken away habeas rights. If Congress wishes to suspend habeas, it must do so only as the Cons ution allows — when the country faces rebellion or invasion.

The Court stressed that it was not ruling that the detainees are en led to be released — that is, en led to have writs issued to end their confinement. That issue, it said, is left to the District Court judges who will be hearing the challenges. The Court also said that “we do not address whether the President has authority to detain” individuals during the war on terrorism, and hold them at the U.S. Naval base in Cuba; that, too, it said, is to be considered first by the District judges.

The Court also declared that detainees do not have to go through the special civilian court review process that Congress created in 2005, since that is not an adequate subs ute for habeas rights. The Court refused to interpret the Detainee Treatment Act — as the Bush Administration had suggested — to include enough legal protection to make it an adequate replacement for habeas. Congress, it concluded, uncons utionally suspended the writ in enacting that Act.

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy’s opinion for the majority in Boumediene v. Bush (06-1195) and Al Odah v. U.S. (06-1196) was an almost rhapsodic review of the history of the Great Writ. The Suspension Clause, he wrote, “protects the rights of the detained by a means consistent with the essential design of the Cons ution. It ensures that except during periods of formal suspension, the writ, to maintain the ‘delicate balance of governance’ that is itself the surest safeguard of liberty.”

In a second ruling on habeas, the Court decided unanimously that U.S. citizens held by U.S. military forces in Iraq have a right to file habeas cases, because it does extend to them, but it went on to rule that federal judges do not have any authority to bar the transfer of those individuals to Iraqi authorites to face prosecution or punishment for crimes committed in that country in violation of Iraqi laws.

[JoeChalupa]

Wow.

[101A]

There is no way this becomes a spectacle.

[Mr. Peabody]

One of the candidates had a little foresight on this issue....

[balli]

Thank God Kennedy kept his together this time.

[PixelPusher]

Score one for justice, the rule of law, and one of the oldest "civil right" that is the foundation for due process.

[xrayzebra]

Thank God Kennedy kept his together this time.

Yeah, does this mean a GI has to give the
Miranda warning when capturing someone on the
battlefield?

As the in a old TV series: Very Interesting!

[SRJ]

This is how radicals win. While we smugly congratulate ourselves for our civilized ways, our enemies cut off heads, enslave women, and kill all of those who don't believe in the one true God.

Rest assured, wussbags: when they come for you, they're not at all going to be impressed that you supported their habeas corpus rights. Your heads will be liberated from your bodies too. Of course, in your final moment, instead of blaming jihadists, you'll blame the eeeeeeeevil conservatives.

[PixelPusher]

This is how radicals win. While we smugly congratulate ourselves for our civilized ways, our enemies cut off heads, enslave women, and kill all of those who don't believe in the one true God.

Rest assured, wussbags: when they come for you, they're not at all going to be impressed that you supported their habeas corpus rights. Your heads will be liberated from your bodies too. Of course, in your final moment, instead of blaming jihadists, you'll blame the eeeeeeeevil conservatives.

Yes, if we adhere to tenent of justice that has been around since King John agreed to the Magna Carta in 1215, terrorists will pop out the ground and behead us all! We need some extra adult diapers for all wingnut pussies who their pants during every episode of 24.

[SRJ]

Yes, if we adhere to tenent of justice that has been around since King John agreed to the Magna Carta in 1215, terrorists will pop out the ground and behead us all! We need some extra adult diapers for all wingnut pussies who their pants during every episode of 24.

Keep your head in the sand all you like.

[PixelPusher]

Keep your head in the sand all you like.

Keep an eagle eye out for those scarves and fist-bumps.

[clambake]

hey pix, since your head is in the sand, tell me, can you see SRJ's fear bunker?

[balli]

Somewhere Edward R. Murrow is shedding a tear.

[Wild Cobra]

I haven't research any of this since hearing about it. I would suggest that someone interested keep in mind the court only said they have the right be heard on if their detainment is warranted or not. This still doesn't give them the right to their crimes being heard in the normal justice system we all enjoy.

I should spend the time reading the opinions, or whatever the court calls the write-ups they do.

Mr. Peabody... could you give us the relevant links for research please?

This is a surprising one to me. From the information I know of, I think the ruling was correct, and I'm surprised who the dissenters are. There must be something missing. I wonder what wasn't reported.

[xrayzebra]

How did we ever get through WWII, Korea, and VN wars.
Also WWI and the Civil War. Gee, wouldn't it have been
nice to have our Judges around to keep us straight.

Boy are the federal courts going to be busy in California.
I wonder is William Wayne Justice still in Tyler. He
will do great things with this ruling. Like he did with
schools in Del Rio and the prison system in Texas. What
a guy.

[Ignignokt]

Score one for justice, the rule of law, and one of the oldest "civil right" that is the foundation for due process.

Not even our soldiers get civil courts. What are you talking about. Are you an idiot.

Rule of law? WTF! George Washington, Polk, Jackson, didn't give our combatants that option. No King in England with the Magna Carta gave them that option either. This is sheer stupidity.

[Ignignokt]

Somewhere Edward R. Murrow is shedding a tear.

Wow i hope you're not being sarcastic. It's ok to hate the war, but to act cavalier about a real threat is disgusting.

[balli]

Wow i hope you're not being sarcastic. It's ok to hate the war, but to act cavalier about a real threat is disgusting.

You know what disgusts me? A bunch of scared, chump, paranoid & xenophobic pussies like yourself trying to bring a new breed of radical McCarthyist fear back into the mainstream. off.

[01.20.09]

I heard that McCaine said is he hasn't read the opinion yet, but what he really means is that Lieberman hadn't read it to him and explained it to him yet.

[Don Quixote]

I don't see this ending well. The terrorists will absolutely use our legal system against us.

[Saddam]

[ElNono]

This is exactly what I was talking about a couple days ago with Wild Cobra. According to him, the government has really good evidence, so they should have no problem justifying the long detention time and the reason for the detention in front of a federal judge.
The only shame is that it took this long to right this wrong.

[ElNono]

Interesting excerpt from: The New York Times

Mr. Bush, in his statement in Rome, said the administration would decide whether to ask Congress to weigh in once more. Success at such an effort would appear unlikely, given that the Supreme Court decision was praised not only by the Democratic leadership, but also by the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. Senator Specter had voted for the jurisdiction-stripping measure, but then filed a brief at the court arguing that the law was uncons utional.

[Extra Stout]

Keep your head in the sand all you like.

I ate another falafel yesterday. I'm coming for you!!!!

[PixelPusher]

Not even our soldiers get civil courts. What are you talking about. Are you an idiot.

Rule of law? WTF! George Washington, Polk, Jackson, didn't give our combatants that option. No King in England with the Magna Carta gave them that option either. This is sheer stupidity.

This isn't about trying them in civil courts, it's about Habeas Corpus; the right to be brought before a court (civil or military) and hear what charges are being brought against you. Many of those detainees are just random guys who got turned in by some Afghan goat herder for the bounty promised by fliers we dropped.