Harvey Silverglate on Guantanamo
In his new book The Terror Courts, Jess Bravin, a Supreme Court reporter for The Wall Street Journal, describes with dismay how the George W. Bush administration attempted to create a shadow justice system for dealing with foreigners and Americans whom the executive branch considers perpetrators and facilitators of terrorism. Wielding no partisan ax, Bravin laments President Barack Obama's failure to renounce many of the same executive powers. But as Harvey Silverglate reports, Bravin also describes an intriguing civil war within the national security establishment. As Bush's most hardened hawks rounded up suspected terrorists, others within the government fought, both overtly and covertly, to protect constitutional procedures.