Supreme Court: Give Back Our Constitutional Rights!
On June 12th, the United States Supreme Court handed down its decision in Boumediene v. Bush, a case that questioned the denial of habeas corpus rights to suspected terrorist detainees at Guantanamo Bay and other prisons. The 5-4 decision favored the U.S. Constitution, meaning that prisoners, no matter how many suspected terrorist ties they have, have certain constitutional rights.
In case you're a little rusty on the lingo of the old Constitution and/or haven't been keeping up to speed with the Guantanamo Bay situation, here's what all that means.
The writ of habeas corpus is part of the first article of the Constitution. Basically, it guarantees anyone who is detained by the government the right to challenge his or her detention. In other words, if you're being held prisoner, you can go before a court and have them determine whether or not the government's reasons for holding you are valid.
But, as part of the epic War on Terror, a Presidential Military Order enacted on November 13, 2001 gave the U.S. President the right to detain suspected terrorists and those suspected to have ties to terrorists as "unlawful combatants," without habeas corpus rights.
Oh, you say, that seems reasonable. After all, these people are dangerous. But let's take another look. The Order also declared that a person could be held indefinitely without being charged with any crime, without a court hearing to determine the validity of his or her detention, and without access to a lawyer.
The Supreme Court's ruling has restored the habeas corpus rights of suspected terrorists and "those with ties to terrorists".
As the Detroit Free Press pointed out, giving these rights back does not translate to allowing terrorists to run willy-nilly through the United States and beyond. Rather, it allows those held in prison to go before a court, have lawyers argue on their behalf and have a judge determine whether or not they ought to be prisoners.
During the hearing, as during a criminal defense trial, a detainee (with help from an attorney) can declare his innocence, challenge the government's evidence against him and question the process that led to his being labeled an "enemy combatant".
In the majority decision, Justice Anthony Kennedy reportedly wrote that 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".
In other words, the Court decided that the President must stop ignoring the Constitution, which provides the basis for the laws of United States, in his crusade to "protect" this country from "terrorists".
