McCain: Guantanamo Decision 'One of the Worst' in U.S. History

John McCain today called the Supreme Court's ruling to grand habeas corpus right to Guantanamo Bay detainees "one of the worst decisions in the history of the country," The Boston Globe's Political Intelligence blog is reporting.

The Arizona senator blasted the ruling at a town hall forum in Pemberton, N.J. today, saying it will "hurt our ability" to protect the U.S. from terrorists.

A proponent of closing the Guantanamo prison, McCain reacted more mildly to the ruling when asked about it yesterday.

"These are unlawful combatants, they are not American citizens and I think we should pay attention to Justice Roberts' [dissenting] opinion in this decision," McCain said yesterday. "But it is a decision that the Supreme Court has made. Now we need to move forward. As you know I always favored closing Guantanamo Bay and I still think we ought to do that."

See The Trail's report on McCain's initial reaction here.

---