5 on SCOTUS are Primed to Knock the Stuffing Out of Bush's Gitmo Case

[Rose Siding]

The court, which is expected to rule as early as Monday, is considering a range of issues in Salim Ahmed Hamdan's case, including whether President Bush had the authority to order military trials for men captured in the war on terror and sent to the Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba....

The Supreme Court was also asked to consider whether fair trial provisions of the Geneva Conventions apply to the military tribunals.

Another issue is whether the Supreme Court even has a say in the matter. The administration argues the Detainee Treatment Act, passed by Congress and signed into law by Bush on Dec. 30, strips the federal courts of much of their jurisdiction over Guantanamo detainees.

Yahoo

It's just a little case that will determine things like, you know, are there limits to executive power and is America still a country of laws. Not only that- These Justices get to decide if they a say or not. I LOVE it when that happens. Betcha all eight of them (Roberts is recused) enjoy healthy egos and very positive self-esteem.

Here's some high jinx from the last hearing on this case. Several of the Justices really let the govt have it-

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=781220

The WH has to try to defend the "Detainee Treatment Act" and this has not been received well:

"Now wait a minute!" Justice Souter interrupted, waving a finger. "The writ is the writ. There are not two writs of habeas corpus, for some cases and for other cases. The rights that may be asserted, the rights that may be vindicated, will vary with the circumstances, but jurisdiction over habeas corpus is jurisdiction over habeas corpus."

Not exactly........coy. The NYT said Breyer "practically begged" the feds not to force the court to decide "the most terribly difficult and important constitutional question of whether Congress can constitutionally deprive this court of jurisdiction in habeas corpus cases."

Of course you never know, but I'm looking forward to this one.

http://www.epane.com.nyud.net:8090/files/images/DVDMV-SUSPENSE.jpg

[msongs]

1. scotus = bush get out of jail free card. by design nt

Msongs

listen to our song demos!
www.msongs.com/msongsdemos.htm

[Rose Siding]

2. Not necessarily. His side is one short this time.

[Techno Dog]

9. I wonder how many moderate

rulings it will take the fundies to realize they got played? Again.

While I would have much preferred Al Gore to make the selections, we could have done a lot worse.

Overturning Roe would mean a generation of Democrats being elected out of revenge. If I know that, the goppers certainly do.

[Triana]

7. SCOTUS == bu$h's diaper...

...put in place to catch all the crap and neatly dispose of it, protecting Duhbya's little bottom. I expect Duhbya will get off scot free with damn well anything he wants. That's what he shoved Scalito and Roberts in there for. CYA.

[babylonsister]

3. Thanks, Rose Siding; I'll be watching/listening with great interest!

I hope they are allowed to put the brakes on this runaway admin!

[Rose Siding]

4. You're welcome. They'll have to contort into some amusing positions to

find for the bushbots on this one. That alone would be worth the price of admission: Bader Ginsberg as a pretzel? :)

[Triana]

8. Well, they certainly contorted quite well in 2000/2001...

..when they appointed the little beady-eyed Weasel, and that was BEFORE Scalito and Roberts. I dunnooo...I'm cynical and skeptical, as usual.

[Rose Siding]

5. Some more on what's at stake-

US News has a good synopsis of the case as it stands currently-

snip>
Enemy combatants. President Bush created special military tribunals two months after 9/11 and has defended them as potentially more effective than civilian courts in bringing suspected Taliban and al Qaeda fighters to justice. He also has refused to give prisoner-of-war status to the approximately 450 suspects being held in Guantanamo, classifying them as "unlawful enemy combatants" not protected by the Geneva Conventions. The Geneva accord gives prisoners the right to a traditional court-martial and other legal protections. Though a poll in March by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press showed the public divided on whether the government should hold detainees at Gitmo with no charges or trial, a growing number of critics argue that Bush has taken his commander-in-chief authority too far.

"When you fight a war not against a country but against a concept, it could go on forever," says Charles Gardner Geyh, an Indiana University law professor. "The court may be waking up to the fact if you don't draw some lines, executive power could continue to accumulate unchecked."
.....
Ill winds. Sources in the Justice Department are pessimistic about getting a definitive win, and President Bush for months has been signaling that he senses which way judicial winds are blowing. In May, amid growing international condemnation, he began talking about his desire to "end Guantanamo" and start releasing prisoners. Last week he seemed to accept that detainee cases may end up in civilian courts. "We're holding some people there that are darn dangerous," Bush said, "and ... we better have a plan to deal with them in our courts."

So it appears that Gitmo, which has damaged America's reputation, may be on its way to obsolescence, though the administration is struggling over what to do with prisoners who face arrest or death if repatriated to their home countries....

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/060626/26hamdan.htm

[enough]

6. k&r

Thanks Rose

[fooj]

10. I'll keep my fingers crossed.