Justices Reject Bush Plan to Try Detainees

SCOTUS gets it right.

From the New York Times:

(snip)
The decision was such a sweeping and categorical defeat for the administration that it left human rights lawyers who have pressed this and other cases on behalf of Guantánamo detainees almost speechless with surprise and delight, using words like "fantastic," "amazing" and "remarkable."
(snip)
"The ruling marked the most significant setback yet for the administration's broad expansions of presidential power."

The use of "conservative" and "liberal" in regard to the issues of the 21st Century is just meaningless. The 3 most "conservative" justices voted to invest in the executive virtually unlimited power. The more "liberal" justices voted to uphold the traditional, constitutional separation of powers and distrust of a too-powerful executive.

It may have been a defeat for Bush, but it was a victory for Madison, Jefferson, Paine, et al! And ol' Pat Henry's bones are rattling with glee.

"The executive is bound to comply with the rule of law that prevails in this jurisdiction..."

-Justice John Paul Stevens for the Majority

The Constitution which at any time exists, 'till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole People, is sacredly obligatory upon all.

-George Washington
Farewell Address, September 19, 1796

"Lord, please give John Paul Stevens many more years of productive work on the Supreme Court! I know you have to take him eventually, but please, please, wait at least 935 days."

- The Man on the Limb

Hamdan detainees Rumsfeld "War on Terror" "Hamdan v. Rumsfeld" Guantanamo Gitmo