In my last blog post before heading out for the summer, I thought I’d let you Wesleying addicts know that the Supreme Court has handed down a ruling in what is possibly the most important case of our generation: Boumediene v. Bush, No. 06-1195.
They ruled that terror suspects have the right to challenge their detention in civilian courts. Read the full NYT article here. You can also hear the oral argument in the case here, at Oyez.org.
To nobody’s surprise, Kennedy got to make the decision (and wrote the opinion – which was not a foregone conclusion). He was joined by Souter, Breyer, Ginsburg and Stevens.
The decision invalidates parts of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (specifically, the part which denied habeas corpus to detainees), as well as parts of the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, not to mention the spirit of Bush administration policy.
Roberts wrote the main dissent, arguing the the Military Commissions Act provides all the essential aspects of habeas, and thus is not a suspension of the writ. He was joined by Thomas, Alito and Scalia. Additionally (and predictably), Scalia wrote another dissent, arguing that aliens have never been guaranteed habeas corpus by the U.S. Constitution. He was also joined by the other three.
The due process of law prevails once again! I hope everyone has a great summer – content in the knowledge that (at least sometimes) the Supreme Court cares about your rights.
I got so excited when I saw this in the NYTimes yesterday :D Best news in the US in a while. (And I’m a huge Obama supporter.)
I got so excited when I saw this in the NYTimes yesterday :D Best news in the US in a while. (And I’m a huge Obama supporter.)
Yay!This just made my day much happier.
Yay!
This just made my day much happier.
i like the post
i like the post
yeah this is really awesome news.though i suppose it’s profoundly sad that the existence of habeas corpus now consitutes good news.
yeah this is really awesome news.
though i suppose it’s profoundly sad that the existence of habeas corpus now consitutes good news.
Wow this is a huge deal – I’m really glad the super-conservative justices didn’t get their way with this one.
Wow this is a huge deal – I’m really glad the super-conservative justices didn’t get their way with this one.
nice post. you wesleying bloggers have good taste in which non-wesleyan-related subject matter to cover.
nice post. you wesleying bloggers have good taste in which non-wesleyan-related subject matter to cover.