Padilla Ruling

From the Wash Post:

President Bush does not have power to detain American citizen Jose Padilla, the former gang member seized on U.S. soil, as an enemy combatant, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.

The decision could force the government to try Padilla, held in a so-called "dirty bomb" plot, in civilian courts.

Whole thing here.

Padilla is nobody's idea of a hero, but his treatment has been outrageous from the get-go.

Comments

[Russ]

Wow... I had no idea that judges still referred to the Constitution.

Needless to say... it's about time that Padilla's indefinite detention was at least seriously questioned.

[david f]

it's amazing how this is justifiable in the name of "fighting terror". and this is yet only one feature of "the war on terror" that needs to be questioned. imagine how many on the right would have reacted post oklahoma city to these types of measures.
drf

[Ruthless]

All government is ever capable of is closing the barn door after the horses have bolted.
The whole idea of Homeland Security--at least run by gummint--is ludicrous.

[Diego]

This is a great day for the Constitution. I am troubled the decision was 2-1 and not 3-0 and hope with all the energy I can muster this decision is eventually affirmed by the SCOTUS. Christmas has come early for lovers of liberty!

[Dan]

imagine how many on the right would have reacted post oklahoma city to these types of measures.

The same way they're reacting now -- some would have supported it in the name of cracking down on terrorists, most would have opposed it as unconstitutional.

Perhaps you are under the mistaken impression that "the right" sympathized with McVeigh, or viewed the Oklahoma City as something other than a heinous act of terrorism. That is, of course, ridiculous. The right-wing fringe groups who supported McVeigh's ideas are, by and large, now active in opposing the war on terrorism. The hardcore law-and-order types who favored locking up Padilla without a trial would have had no problem doing the same thing to McVeigh and his pals too.

[Swamp Justice]

If you are ANTI-anti-terrorism, then you are PRO-terrorism! Padilla has no need of a trial because the gub'mint already has (secret) evidence. They couldn't have evidence if he wasn't guilty!

[david f]

Hey Dan!!

the fear of the government cracking down was huge back then. the militia movement, etc. scared the crap out of the northeasterners (snicker), while the rest of the country didn't care.

if the PATRIOT act provisions were given to tracking down militia people, yes, i strongly believe the righties who are for it now would have been against. the hypocrasy of the "fucktarded shitsticks" on both sides is huge. viz: pat lehey whining about civil liberties when he was for the oklahoma city.

when it comes to liberties and freedom, big government conservatives and big government liberals might disagree on the details, but the net loss to you and me is still there.

and i happened to watch a professor at Hilsdale college comment about "federal buildings". is he a right wing fringe? if so, cool. then we're in agreement that it's a "fringe". that's fine. i'll ammend my comment, gladly.

this is probably a lot like "the left hating america" bit, a coupla hugely impressionable anecdotes really resonate that blow the thing out of proportion.

but there is no mistaken impression here about "the right", since, with the exception of gay rights and the war on drugs, most of my views are "the right" in most respects. and i know that gov keating (r) was for the execution then a trial. yes you're totally correct there.

however, the hue and cry and fear of the "government" was running rampant back then. and i still wonder why most of those voices are silent now. there's much less apparent fear of "the government" now from previously vocal corners.

oh, somewhat unrelated: check out the MSNBC show "scarbourogh country" or something like that. man oh man. i'd like to see (not really) the left wing equivalent on a pseudo major news outlet. man. it was like the NY times going off on pharmaceuticals. jeez. let's throw 'em all in a room and throw away the room. vote by changing channels, for other candidates, or by continuous masturbation. anything but that!!! that show is a hoot! hilarious. drinking game: every equation of godless liberals (or just godless types) with "hate" or "anti america", do a shot. most of us wouldn't make it through the first ten minutes of the 11 minutes i watched the other day 🙂

as someone noted below: substitute DEA for ATF and you get different groups up in arms. agreed!

cheers and happy thursday!
drf

[david f]

oh,

i also thought that the person who wanted to attack with a dirty bomb was "I-scheet m'drawrz". and he left the scene with skid marks, and all!

great sketch, that!

cheers!
drf

[dude]

I think that Scarboro Kountry show is a rather sad attempt at creating a O'Reilly Factor knock-off. At least MSNBC canned Michael Savage Weiner.

Anyway, I'm sure they'll appeal to the Supreme Court and I sure hope they go the right way. After that campaign "reform" fiasco I'm not sure it's a slam dunk and if the Court puts its stamp of approval on the practice of "disappearing" US citizens - yikes.

[JD]

I've read the ruling and the dissent, and my take on it is that while the ruling is definitely a good thing in the short term, it's not as enlightened as we might have hoped. The overall attitude of the judges seems to be, "Congress didn't allow the President to do absolutely _anything_ he wants, so Padilla must be officially charged (but if they _did_ decide to let the Prez do whatever he wants, then it would be OK)".

[OL]

It doesn't matter, anyway. SCOTUS will find something in some foreign court decision to give them an excuse to rule in favor of the administration, the Constitution be damned.

[Daniel Leathers]

This is perhaps the most important decision in a while about Bush's very (to use the right's own terminology) ANTI-AMERICAN policies.

Nothing is more un-American than holding a US citizen (OR AN ALIEN!) without charges, indefinitely, without access to a lawyer.

In short: the pseudo second-tier justice system (if justice is even the right term) reserved for only those with no voice has largely been ignored by the general public because 'it takes away 'their' rights, not ours.

The erosion of liberty for those detained at Gitmo quickly made its way to US citizens in the case of Mr. Padila.

I applaud the 2nd District Court's Majority ruling. If one person looses a right, we all do.

[Ingolfr]

Poooooor Padilla!!!!! SO WHAT that he's preparing to kill upwards of 30 000 innocent civilians, totally destroy the American economy, have martial law declared. We can blame Bush and Ashcroft (ahaa, a strategy at last)! AND those tragic misguided figures at Gitmo. Why, it's because they come from dysfunctional NATIONS, made that way by big brutal daddy USA. CALL THE SOCIAL WORKERS THEY'LL SOLVE THE PROBLEM!!! Of course, everyone who prizes the intellect knows how impossibly difficult those wretched sociology classes were in school!

I gotta tell ya! You cats are unbelievable!! Absolutely no sense of reality, the real world. Man, do I wish they had a draft in this fucking country. Maybe then some of you terminal adolescents living out your masturbation fantasies on the net would get the same taste of the world that REAL working people get.

[Ingolfr]

My apologies for the second paragraph rant. My thanks for leaving the rest of it intact.

[no one cares]

Ingolfr - I know, I shouldn't feed trolls like you, but how do you know that ANY of the allegations about him are true? Do you ALWAYS trust EVERYTHING the government tells you?

Good sheep.

If he'd been given a day in court these charges could be proven one way or the other. But he wasn't. He was thrown down a rathole. This is the United States and he is a United States citizen. We don't do that sort of thing. (Yet). Despite cowards like you.

[joe]

If "preparing to kill upwards of 30 000 innocent civilians" is what allows the government to ignore due process and hold you incommunicado indefinitely, than that's what politically inconvenient people will be framed for.

[Bob Craig]

March 25, 2004 (10:44pm)

In my personal opinion Scarbourogh on Scarbourogh Country, MSMBS, gave the best account of Clark?s Bark yesterday on all the alpabet channels. His opinion is the best!

Thanks ~ You efforts in fly-over-country are the best!

Bob Craig

[Bauer Seth]

EMAIL: [e-mail]
IP: 210.18.158.254
URL: http://preteen-sex.info
DATE: 05/20/2004 10:23:10
Gratitude is merely the secret hope of further favors.