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Thursday, June 12, 2008
Justice Anthony Kennedy saves America

Yup, the Senate knew what it was doing in 1987 when it blocked extremist Robert Bork from the Supreme Court and triggered the chain of events that led Ronald Reagan to appoint more sensible moderate Anthony Kennedy. Today, it was Kennedy who stepped forward to rule that the U.S. Constitution can't be shredded and tossed away in the name of a war on terror:

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that foreign terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay have rights under the Constitution to challenge their detention in U.S. civilian courts.

In its third rebuke of the Bush administration's treatment of prisoners, the court ruled 5-4 that the government is violating the rights of prisoners being held indefinitely and without charges at the U.S. naval base in Cuba.

Kennedy was the swing vote, wrote the majority opinion, and penned these words (PDF file) that ought to be tattooed on the forearms of Bush and Cheney when they're shown the door in January:

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. The Framers decided that habeas corpus, a right of first importance, must be a part of that framework, a part of that law.

Someone alert Rush Limbaugh: Five Stalinist wackos are on the loose in the nation's capital!

Posted by Will Bunch @ 11:25 AM  Permalink | 110 comments
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Comments
Posted by AHiredGun 11:45 AM, 06/12/2008
Is our country and government finally coming to their senses? God, I sure hope so!
Posted by what is truth? 11:50 AM, 06/12/2008
Notice how few cases the government has won when they are required to go to real courts? Secret tribunals, endless detention, and extraordinary renditions and interrogation techniques are the last resort of the lazy and incompetent. But that's what the Bush/Cheney apparatus is all about, from Iraq to Katrina and all points in between - incompetence and the fear of being found out just how incompetent they are.
Posted by montani semper liberi 11:55 AM, 06/12/2008
This is a huge victory in the real war on terror. Take that Osama! We're still here, with our Constitution as healthy as ever.
Comment removed.
Posted by E.Plebnista 12:05 PM, 06/12/2008
Add five more targets for the hate Americans first crowd... As b.at notes, Kennedy finds the Constitution to be an important document. The man sworn to preserve, protect and defend it? Not so much... "Conservatives" are big fans of the Constitution except when, you know, they aren't...
Posted by montani semper liberi 12:09 PM, 06/12/2008
"Kennedy was also the swing vote on Gore v. The Constitution and the American People in 2000." . . . . . . . . . . . In hindsight, even that may have saved the country. Bush's presidency has done more to reverse the Reagan revolution than Gore could have ever hoped to do in office posing as a moderate.
Posted by jmc 12:12 PM, 06/12/2008
No Will, he saved Al Qaeda and Taliban terrorists. Yippie. Question: Was Kennedy a "sensible moderate" in the 2000 election? In the eyes of the left sensible means agree with liberals, and moderate means agree with liberals. Lets hope the 6 years and 9 months without an Islamic terror attack on our soil continues.
Posted by Talking point sleuth 12:27 PM, 06/12/2008
What's that, three times the SC has determined that the Bush administration was violating the constitution? No matter, the Republican sycophants will still try to justify voting a complete incompetent into office. Twice.
Posted by jmc 12:31 PM, 06/12/2008
By the way, Kennedy's decision is also a rebuke of the liberal hero Franklin Roosevelt's unlawful detention of Japanese Americans during WWII. Now you libs may not remember that since your historical perspective is basically limited to Vietnam, which by the way was started by lib icon JFK, and escalated by another prominent liberal LBJ of "great society" fame. I guess that doesn't matter either because it was all Nixon's fault. And to show I'm fair, habeas corpus was suspended by Republican Abraham Lincoln during the civil war. Don't you wish Anthony Kennedy was on the court back then so he could do all he can to preserve that great institution of slavery? Well, at least Kalid Sheikh Mohammad can now benefit from his wisdom.
Posted by what is truth? 12:31 PM, 06/12/2008
"Lets hope the 6 years and 9 months without an Islamic terror attack on our soil continues." I agree. And let's hope the 13 years and almost 2 months without a right-wing, all-American terror attack (Oklahoma City) continues. We didn't need to shred the Constitution because the latter happened, and yet the right thinks we need to shred the Constituion because the former happened. There is no logic in this.
Posted by jmc 12:42 PM, 06/12/2008
"And let's hope the 13 years and almost 2 months without a right-wing, all-American terror attack (Oklahoma City) continues." Oh yeah, I remember when all of us conservatives came out in favor of that attack, since it was ordered by Newt Gingrich and funded by Rush Limbaugh and all that.
Posted by Shemp Howard 12:45 PM, 06/12/2008
great history lesson JMC...liberal pukes conveniently forget their history when spouting their non-sense.
Posted by Shemp Howard 12:49 PM, 06/12/2008
Let's just hope our soldiers and marines start taking less and less prisoners...
Posted by what is truth? 12:55 PM, 06/12/2008
Jmc, that is a ridiculous reading of my comment. I never said anything in there that conservatives favored that attack. The comment was that you didn't need to shred the Constitution then, and you don't need to now, and that the conservative position that you need to makes no sense. Sorry, but your comment was off-the-wall silly and had nothing to do with what I wrote.
Posted by RG 01:14 PM, 06/12/2008
Looks like Shemp and jmc are now aboard the "hope" express. Knew you guys would come around.
About Will Bunch
Will's book: Learn about it here and purchase it here.

Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.

E-mail Will by clicking here.

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