June 15, 2008
Supreme Court Grants U.S. Rights To Terrorist Prisoners
Of all the safeguards for democracy, the corner stone is “habeas corpus” -- legal Latin for “ bring forth the body.”
That is: “Bring to court – without delay -- a person being detained for an alleged crime against the state so that he/she may be fairly judged.”
A corollary dictum is: “Justice delayed is justice denied.”
Thus: Congress, the lower courts, and Americans at large were stunned last week when the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that 37 foreign, terrorist combatants -- captured during battles in Iraq and Afghanistan -- must be brought to trial immediately in an American civil court.
Plaintiffs in the landmark decision are ringleaders of 270 “detainees” held captive at the U.S. Naval Base of Guantanamo Bay on the island of Cuba.
Prisoners held there were captured during Iraq/Afghanistan War battles -- and found guilty by U.S. military tribunals there.
U.S. War Department officials chose the Guantanamo site for incarceration of terrorists --on theory it was leased, foreign, soil under control of the U.S. military. Thus it was thought to be beyond jurisdiction of U.S. courts.
NOT SURPRISING
Courtesy Wikipedia
Guantanamo Bay guard tower
Wrong, wrong, wrong!
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 that the Military Commission Act of 2006 illegally curtailed federal courts jurisdiction to hear habeas corpus petitions.
That is: American courts follow American presence.
The decision was not a surprise. The Court ruled in 2004 that federal habeas corpus statutes extended to Guantanamo detainees because the U.S. government has “unique control” over leased land.
The majority opinion of last week’s decision was tendered by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy -- generally regarded as a “swing voter” siding often with the “liberal” block of Justices.
He wrote: “The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times. Liberty and security can be reconciled -- and in our system they are reconciled -- within the framework of the law.”
Joining him were Justices John Paul Stevens, David Hackett Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer.
COGENT DISSENTS
Principal dissent to last week’s order was penned by Justice Antonin Scalia -- an outspoken member of the court’s “conservative” wing. He wrote:
“The Court’s decision is a self-invited incursion into military affairs. America is at war with radical Islamists. The majority decision will almost certainly cause more Americans to be killed.”
“The nation will live to regret what the court has done today. The decision was based not on principle, but rather an inflated notion of judicial supremacy."
Joining Scalia were Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., and Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito, Jr.
Roberts also filed a separate dissent defending the alternative process to judicial hearings. He termed them:
courtesy www.globalsecurity.org
Guantanamo Bay cell block
Yellow cone signifies quieted prayer time
...“the most generous set of procedural protections ever afforded aliens detained by this country as enemy combatants.”
“The decision is not really about detainees at all, but about control of federal policy regarding enemy combatants. The public will lose a bit more control over the conduct of this nation’s foreign policy to unelected, politically unaccountable judges.”
OPEN DOORS
The Supreme Court decision opens the door to hundreds of habeas corpus petitions pending in U.S. district courts.
President Bush said he was displeased with the Court finding, but “we will abide by the court’s decision. That doesn’t mean I have to agree with it. It was a deeply divided court, and I strongly agree with those who dissented.”
He said he would decide whether to ask Congress to try once more to define the rights of enemy combatants.
In our opinion, the issue is fraught with backlashes. Americans caught by terrorists are often mistreated, tortured and beheaded.
Habeas Corpus is mostly a guarantee by Americans – available to our enemies as well as to our citizens.
It seems to be a one-way street – but it is the main street.
By Lindsey Wilger Williams, retired newspaper publisher and syndicated columnist
