Bush Versus Freedom in America
Yesterday, the Fourth Circuit appellate court, in a 5-4 ruling (PDF), affirmed that the President has the power to arrest U.S. citizens and legal residents inside the U.S., and imprison them indefinitely in a military prison, without charging them with any crime, based solely on his assertion that the imprisoned individual is an “enemy combatant.”
The case involved Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, a citizen of Qatar, who was a graduate student in Peoria, IL when President Bush classified him as an unlawful enemy combatant in 2003. He has spent the last five years in solitary confinement in a naval brig in South Carolina, held without charges.
Glenn Greenwald comments (his whole post is worth reading):
The danger of empowering the President to order the U.S. military to arrest U.S. citizens inside the U.S. and indefinitely imprison them as “enemy combatants” — and thereby deny them core Constitutional protections — is manifest. It’s literally hard to imagine a more un-American power than that.
The Bush administration is spending trillions of dollars trying to spread “freedom” around the world with Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Meanwhile, their lawyers are busy subverting the Constitution and taking away our freedom.
And what about the Fourth Circuit Court? Do judges go to law school any more? Do they study the Constitution? I wonder. Maybe the U.S. Supreme Court can fix this, but even if they do it will probably be another 5-4 decision.
July 16th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Unbelievable. Talk about “judicial activism.”
July 16th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
And another 2 or 3 years of waiting in the brig for Mr. al-Marri.
July 16th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
What was he arrested by the Peoria PD for?
July 16th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
jd:
I am not sure the relevance of your question. Please explain.
July 16th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Something tells me the term “enemy combatant” is very broadly interpreted in the “constitutional laws” passed or interpreted by these punks with power.
Do I even have to own a gun or a knife to be deemed an enemy combatant? For that matter, do I even have to have arms or legs?
July 16th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Just curious. The opinion states that he was arrested by local PD.
July 16th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
jd:
I am not getting your point. The fact that he was arrested or charged seems irrelevant to the heart of the matter.
July 16th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
jd, check out the Wikipedia article or Glenn Greenwald’s post linked above. Al-Marri was originally charged with credit card fraud– charges since dropped.
July 16th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Maybe they could bring back the Alien and Sedition Acts.
Seriously, the fastest way to stop this is to get a new President. The Bush doctrine is that bad guys have no rights, and you are a bad guy if the government says you are.
July 16th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
I’m not making a point, Albert.
Larry, thanks for the direction.
July 16th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Larry, you only need possess the “wrong” thoughts. No actions or intentions are required.
This is the “slippery slope” of hate/thought crimes legislation. Let us as Americans, prosecute for what people do, not what they think, however abominable.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Don’t be a flagger, as it is being built.
July 16th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Just a random mind-fart, then?
July 17th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
No Albert. I was curious as to why he was arrested in the first place. What initially brought him to the attention of Law Enforcement?
July 17th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
The irony is that al-Marri presently has no charges pending. Because the government’s crimes against him far outweigh anything he could plausibly be charged with, he’ll go free eventually. Thanks to the Fourth Circuit Court, he’s still in solitary confinement until the U.S. Supreme Court can spring him.
July 17th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
I’m sure that if they “spring him” the gov’t will refile the initial charges.
July 17th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
So long as the SOL has not run. If it has, our government will likely have no problem in just trumping up new charges created from whole cloth.
July 17th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
Initial charges were filed for various types of bank fraud (fraudulent SSNs, etc.). What’s the SOL on that?
July 17th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
jd:
Not sure, but six years kinda rings a bell.