In Re Padilla

[jhetley]

(Or some such legal-beagle language.)

Mostly lost in the furor over high gas prices and Katrina-fallout, an appeals court has ruled in favor of Da Man on the little matter of Jose Padilla.

This, for the uninitiated, asserts the guv'ment's power to hold a US citizen, arrested on US soil, unarmed and without resistance, as an "enemy combatant" to be held without charge, counsel, or trial. In solitary confinement. Indefinitely.

In other words, the Disappeared have arrived on Maple Street.

So much for "strict construction" of the constitution.

Comments

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

It'll go to the Supreme Court, and I can't see them refusing cert on this one. At which point there's a good chance that BushCo will get a RUDE surprise...

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

I hold hopes that the outcome will at least _mention_ the purpose of our constitution and the deep-seated fear our Founding Persons held of arbitrary and tyrannical government....