Recently, in a sharply divided ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court reportedly ruled that Guantanamo Bay detainees can challenge imprisonment in federal court while chastising an alternative review system (the Military Commissions Act of 2006) set up by Congress as unconstitutional — dealing another blow to the Bush administration’s ‘war on terrorism’ policy — concluding that foreigners held at Guantanamo Bay have the same rights as U.S. residents to seek writs of habeas corpus.
The Court’s 5-4 majority ruling will allow several hundred alleged terrorists to see the evidence justifying their imprisonment. Some of the alleged terrorists have been held for six years and have had no definitive judicial determination regarding the legality of their detention. The ruling marks the third time in four years that the Supreme Court has repudiated the Bush administration’s claims of being above the law.
The fascist four — Chief Justice John G. Roberts, and Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito — dissented with the majority agreement. Roberts and Alito were appointed by Bush to the Supreme Court, which serves as an excellent argument as to why Supreme Court Justices should be elected, not appointed by a President. Scalia warned that ‘the nation will live to regret what the court has done today.’ Actually, Mr. Scalia, the nation regrets what the Supreme Court illicitly did in 2000 when Bush was appointed to the presidency. That decision was possibly the worst decision in U.S. history and has cost this country dearly.
With his usual corrupt ignorance, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina called the ruling tremendously dangerous and irresponsible. Republican Presidential contender John McCain — also known as Bush Jr. — said the ruling is one of the worst in the history of this country. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who rose to power by exposing and exaggerating Democratic corruption, said the decision ‘could cost us a city.’
John Yoo wrote an OpEd that was published by the once reputable Wall Street Journal — it was reputable until Rupert Murdoch, the owner of FOX News, purchased it and hijacked it to convolute the biggest fear Bush has…the truth — slandering the decision by defending the right of the Bush administration to imprison suspects at Guantanamo indefinitely with no judicial review and using the same twisted logic, as if trying to turn Bush’s lies into truth, that led this country into the illegal occupation of Iraq, leading to the President’s delusional belief that he’s above the law.
In the words of Glenn Greenwald: “It takes an indescribably authoritarian mind to believe that one’s own Government should have the power to put people in cages for life without having to provide them any meaningful opportunity to prove that they did not do what they are accused of…” Other various reactions to the Supreme Court decision can also be found from The Associated Press.
Terrorism Is Using Fear to Affect Political Change
As noted by Wisco from ThisIsByUs.us, terrorism is using fear to affect political change. Bush, Gingrich, Graham, McCain and Scalia and the rest of the neocon morons are terrorists. They use your fear of terrorism — that they intentionally create using illegally held detainees — to get you to give them whatever it is they want.
Scalia has been a cheerleader for Bush’s terrorism policies since illicitly helping appoint him to the White House. Part of Scalia’s dissenting opinion addresses the ‘disastrous consequences’ of the ruling, which include almost certainly causing more Americans to be killed and how it “warps the Constitution.” This from a justice who erroneously refers to Bush as ‘the Nation’s Commander in Chief.’
The Raw Story ran a report about Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich — the architect of the so-called K Street Project who also faced 84 ethics charges — saying that the Supreme Court decision allowing enemy combatants to challenge their detention could lead to the nuclear destruction of a U.S. city. Gingrich has used fear-mongering concerning the destruction of a U.S. city numerous times.
Then there’s President Bush — who claims critics of Gitmo, Abu Ghraib and rendition are ‘slandering America’ and whose latest game is portraying Democrats as standing in the way of measures to help lower gasoline prices that he’s responsible for raising — who has done everything in and out of his power to place himself above the law, above responsibility for illegally starting a war, killing at least 100 detainees with his use of non-torture on innocent prisoners and on and on and on. McCain continues to reveal his major character flaws on a daily basis. Graham is just another moronic pawn of President Bush’s who has been in office entirely too long. There are many more neocons involved too. The reason they squawk so loudly is because the doo doo is beginning to hit the fan.
Bush Administration Wants To Circumvent Ruling
The Washington Post reported that the White House and their cronies in Congress are exploring ways to limit the Supreme Court’s ruling. Ironically, Bush administration lawyers condemned the decision as an unjustified usurpation of federal and congressional prerogatives in waging war. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black…
Despite neoconservative attempts from the far right trying to say we need to give up rights, liberties and freedom to fight the never-ending ‘war on terror,’ nothing could be farther from the truth. One major drawback to that plan is the fact that the U.S. is responsible for creating most of the ‘terrorists.’ We’re constantly fed the line that the terrorists hate our freedom while trying to get us to give up ours. Exactly who are the terrorists here?
When you start giving up rights, liberties and freedoms, there is nothing left to fight for. We’re fighting to prevent corrupted neocons, responsible for the mess we’re in, including allowing — if nothing else — the ‘terror’ attacks of 9/11 to happen, from taking our rights, liberties and freedoms while illegally turning America into a dictatorship.
What better way to try imposing totalitarian rule? Once you start taking away a country’s freedoms, there is little if any chance, especially considering the modus operandi of the Bush administration, that those freedoms would ever be returned.
As noted by Consortium News, there are two ways of looking at the decision by the Supreme Court — as a stirring victory for individual liberty over collective fear, or as a reminder that one more neoconservative right-wing Justice could make Bush’s imperial presidency ‘constitutional.’
The ruling shot down Bush’s theory that he is above the law. The Supreme Court did the right thing in defending the Constitution….at least five of the nine did. When politically appointed Federal Judges start making decisions based on political loyalty or preference instead of the rule of law, it’s time for those judges to be removed because they certainly don’t belong in the highest court in the land.
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