The Absurd Report

I have read about as much commentary as one man can handle in one night about the latest Supreme Court’s ruling in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (05-134).

I will attempt to give you a common man’s perspective of the ruling by a common man, the Bear, and if you are interested the entire 185-page ruling can be found here.

1. The Court’s ruling was 5 to 3 in favor (Justices Kennedy, Souter, Stevens, Ginsburg and Breyer) and opposed (Justices Saclia, Thomas and Alito). Chief Justice Roberts was excused from this case and did not vote because he had made a prior ruling on this matter in a lower court before.

2. The court in its ruling acknowledged that the country is at war based on the actions of Congress after 9/11 and such actions invoked the War Powers Act which gives the President and Commander-in-Chief additional powers at a time of war.

3. The court also decreed that the President has exceeded his authority under the War Powers Act “ by convening military commissions ‘without the sanction of Congress’ for the trials of the detainees at Gitmo.

4. The court additionally ruled that since the United States is a party too international multiple treaties and a signatory to the Geneva Convention than Article Three of Geneva applies as a matter of treaty obligation to the conflict against Al Qaeda. The Court did not hold that all of the protections of the Geneva Conventions apply to suspected Al Qaeda detainees, or that they are entitled to all of the protections of POWs.

5. The court also ruled that the detainees could be held for the duration of the war for the protection and safety of the American people.

Now here’s where the ruling gets ‘Murky’

1.The rules of warfare as stated in the Geneva Convention apply to uniformed combatants and do not apply non-uniformed combatants who could be shot immediately as spies.

2. The court ruling says the detainees can be tried in civil courts which affords them equal rights as any ordinary citizen (Al Qaeda’s Bill of Rights) or by military tribunal. Military tribunals are questionable under the Geneva Convention.

3. The court by its ruling has told Congress to make laws to clarify this situation. The Supreme Court again his usurped its authority as provided in the Constitution for courts do not have any authority in making or ordering new laws to be written. This authority as provided in the Constitution belongs solely to the legislative branch of government, Congress.

What this ambiguous ruling has done is added to the confusion surrounding detainees leaving more questions unanswered than they have answered.

I do know this from an interview of the commander at Gitmo about the detainees, we are dealing with terrorists who are some of the most evil killers that you can imagine.

Legal opinions can be found on the following websites

SCOTUSblog

target="_blank">Orin Kerr.com

Bench Memos

David Frum’s Diary

On the Political Front

Probably the most absurd statement was made by Nancy Pelosi as she rejoiced in Thursday’s ruling from the Supreme Court.

“Today’s Supreme Court decision reaffirms the American ideal that all are entitled to the basic guarantees of our justice system.”

This again reaffirms the liberal mind set which can not accept that this country is at war with an enemy that commits heinous crimes and does not afford any basic human rights to captives.

All Pelosi can think and her reason for celebrating is that this ruling hinders the Bush Administration in its execution of the war. Again, we see the Democrats on the wrong side of National Security issues.

Nancy’s partying partners.

-
Given the Democrats tendencies to overreact on National Defense issues (ala “Cut and Run”) I suspect they won’t achieve any political gain from this ruling.

At this point I would expect Al Qaeda is rolling on the floor in their cave with laughter!

Picture source: Rush Limbaugh.com

GETTING DOWN WITH THE SICKNESS By Doctor Sanity

There is a psychological blindness suffered by most of the left these days. This is an hysterical blindness, whose underlying motivation is obscured by the passionate and emotional appeals of those suffering from it.

Something very troubling is going on inside their psyches–something that they wish to avoid seeing at all costs; because if it were to come into thier mental focus; and if their brains were to process it–it would turn their world upside down.

More…..

Justice Thomas Scathing Dissent - Hits Nail on the Head