Justice Stevens has made his decision; now let him enforce it.

[kpete]

Justice Stevens has made his decision; now let him enforce it.

Here is how Tony Snow, the President's spokesman, viewed the Hamden decision:

Snow later disagreed that the ruling undercut Bush's authority. "I don't think it weakens the president's hand, and it certainly doesn't change the way in which we move as aggressively as possible to try to cut off terrorists before they can strike again," he said.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/29/AR2006062902300_pf.html


WILL HISTORY REPEAT ITSELF?

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, in a 2003 Boston College commencement address, told this story of President Andrew Jackson and the Supreme Court:

In 1832 the Cherokee Indian tribe lived on land guaranteed them by treaty. They found gold on that land. Georgia tried to seize the land. The Cherokees sued. And eventually the Supreme Court, in Worcester v. Georgia, held in favor of the Cherokees.

Georgia then refused to obey the Court.
President Andrew Jackson reportedly said, "John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it." And Jackson sent troops to evict the Cherokees, who traveled the Trail of Tears to Oklahoma, thousands dying along the way.

http://www.supremecourtus.gov/publicinfo/speeches/sp_05-23-03.html

[leveymg]

1. The Difference Is: Now, The Trail of Tears Leads to The Hague

In 1832 there was no World Court, no United Nations Organization, and no UN Conventions Against Torture and Genocide. Both of those treaties have also been enacted into U.S. law in recent decades as the Torture Act and War Crimes Act. See, http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/2/24/13644/9576

These legal developments, along with changes in American politics, pave the way for Bush's Trial of Tears.

Under both conventions, the U.S. and all signatory states are obliged to enforce global treaties outlawing torture and genocide. If a country is either unwilling or unable to prosecute offenders within its own territory, every other signatory nation is obligated to take action -- including the use of military force, if necessary -- to detain and try offenders before an internationally-supervised tribunal. Examples of such enforcement in recent years include internationally-enforced trials in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

Under the Supreme Court's Hamden decision, the Bush Administration enjoys no special protection for actions taken in violation of the Geneva Convention.

Besides, Dubya is no Andy Jackson, and the U.S. Army isn't going to stand in the way when they come to take him to face his Trial of Tears.