SCOTUS vs. POTUS
From WaPo:
Update: Just saw Bush at his presser with the Japanese PM. He was asked about the ruling and mentioned the possibility of working with Congress on the issue of the commissions. Get your rubber stamps ready.
More on this decision from AMERICAblog, Left Coaster, A.L., and Kvatch.
Supreme Court Rejects Guantanamo War Crimes TrialsI am curious to see how Bush will respond. Obviously it is a blow to the theory that his role as Commander-in-Chief affords him unlimited authority. And he has painted himself into a rather precarious corner with his recent statements hinging the fate of Gitmo and the detainees on how the Supreme Court will rule on the commissions. Though, to me those statements were probably more for show. No doubt if he so chose, he could have his lawyers come up with some theory that the Courts do not have the authority to rule on the commissions because to do so would infringe on his Article II authority. They already tried to claim that Congress stripped the Court of jurisdiction when it passed the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, so why not try the Article II angle now? (Update: SCOTUS also laid a smackdown on Congress' attempt to strip it of the right to hear the case).
The Supreme Court today delivered a stunning rebuke to the Bush administration over its plans to try Guantanamo detainees before military commissions, ruling that the commissions are unconstitutional.
In a 5-3 decision, the court said the trials were not authorized under U.S. law or the Geneva Conventions. Justice John Paul Stevens wrote the opinion in the case, called Hamdan v. Rumsfeld.
Update: Just saw Bush at his presser with the Japanese PM. He was asked about the ruling and mentioned the possibility of working with Congress on the issue of the commissions. Get your rubber stamps ready.
More on this decision from AMERICAblog, Left Coaster, A.L., and Kvatch.
Many thanks for the link.
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6/29/2006 06:32:00 PM
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