Cheney's best friend, Supreme Court Judge Scalia, along with the political armchair warriors of the politicized Bush High Court are coming to the rescue of the Bush Presidency once again as the nation calls for the closing of Gitmo. Does it get more obvious than this? What are the Supremes claiming? They are simply closing all the doors to a revisit of the human atrocities committed there? I would think they would be heralding the closure along with the call for reversal of the assault against Habeas Corpus. But, that is not what this is, now is it? And to realize media professionals such as "What's her name?," ahh,... Ann Coulter isn't as scared of this blatant abuse of power is more than a concern to the influence these folks attempt to leverage for their corporate 'entities.'
Justices to rule on Gitmo case (click on title)
Court reversal puts detentions on docketBy David G. Savage and Carol J. Williams, Tribune Newspapers: Los Angeles TimesJune 30, 2007WASHINGTON -- In a surprise move, the Supreme Court agreed Friday to take up the case of the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and to decide whether they have been wrongly held for years without a fair chance to plead their innocence.In a brief order before adjourning for the summer, the justices announced they would hear an appeal they had turned down in early April. The case hinges on whether "foreign citizens imprisoned indefinitely" by the U.S. military can go to court and, if so, whether a judge can free them from "unlawful confinement."Court personnel said it had been 60 years since the justices had dismissed an appeal petition and then voted to reverse themselves and hear the claim after all.The switch may well reflect frustration within the court's liberal-to-moderate wing over the Bush administration's handling of the Guantanamo issue, say civil liberties lawyers.Three years ago, the court ruled that the hundreds of prisoners held there were entitled to a hearing before a neutral judge to challenge the government's basis for holding them....
Letter to Bush: Shut Guantanamo (click here)
By Renee Schoof
McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON - A group of 145 House members yesterday sent a letter to President Bush urging him to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and move the detainees there to military prisons in the United States.
"The closure of the detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay would represent a positive first step toward restoring our international reputation as the leader of democracy and individual rights," the letter said.
The House members, all but one of them Democrats, also called for restoring Guantanamo prisoners' right to challenge their detentions in court.
"This will allow for the implementation of fair and transparent trials to bring enemies of our country to justice," they wrote. The lone Republican in the group was Rep. Walter Jones Jr. of North Carolina.
The Supreme Court agreed yesterday to review whether the detainees should be able to go to federal court to challenge their confinement. Congress passed a law last year that removed the ability of courts to hear detainees' challenges.
Under the law, the detainees receive hearings before a Combatant Status Review Tribunal, which determines whether they are enemy combatants. The hearings allow the government to use evidence that is secret or obtained by coercive interrogation methods.
The White House has been considering closing the prison at Guantanamo and transferring the detainees. About 375 prisoners are at the facility, and many have been there for more than five years. Few have been charged with crimes. Most are held because they have been determined to be security threats to the United States.
The letter argued that the facility had undermined the image of the United States as a "model of justice and protector of human rights around the world."
The United States Supreme Court is supposed to be a 'separate' branch of government, not in political servitude to the Executive Branch.
