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Constitution Trumps War on Terror
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06/12/07 10:40 AM ET
Just when we need it — a blow for liberty!
Ever since Sept. 11, 2001, George Bush has acted as if he’s above the law — tapping phones without a court order, prying into credit card records without a search warrant, torturing prisoners of war — and, most egregiously, rounding up suspects and detaining them for years without charging them with any crime or putting them on trial.
Finally, a federal court has said: Enough’s enough.
Ali al-Marri was arrested three months after Sept. 11. Suspected of being a sleeper agent for al Qaeda, he was declared an “enemy combatant” and, for the last four years, held at the Navy Brig in Charleston, S.C. — with no charges filed against him, no right to see a lawyer and no opportunity to defend himself in a court of law.
Yesterday a conservative federal appeals court in Richmond, Va., ruled that the Bush administration was holding al-Marri illegally. If the government had evidence he was helping al Qaeda, it had to prove it in court. Otherwise, it had to let him go. By keeping al-Marri indefinitely, without a trial, said the court, George Bush was violating his constitutional authority.
God bless America! What an important decision for all Americans. Because if George Bush can do that to Ali al-Marri, he can do it to you or me.
Even in these days of King George, isn’t it nice to know somebody’s keeping an eye on the Constitution?
Ever since Sept. 11, 2001, George Bush has acted as if he’s above the law — tapping phones without a court order, prying into credit card records without a search warrant, torturing prisoners of war — and, most egregiously, rounding up suspects and detaining them for years without charging them with any crime or putting them on trial.
Finally, a federal court has said: Enough’s enough.
Ali al-Marri was arrested three months after Sept. 11. Suspected of being a sleeper agent for al Qaeda, he was declared an “enemy combatant” and, for the last four years, held at the Navy Brig in Charleston, S.C. — with no charges filed against him, no right to see a lawyer and no opportunity to defend himself in a court of law.
Yesterday a conservative federal appeals court in Richmond, Va., ruled that the Bush administration was holding al-Marri illegally. If the government had evidence he was helping al Qaeda, it had to prove it in court. Otherwise, it had to let him go. By keeping al-Marri indefinitely, without a trial, said the court, George Bush was violating his constitutional authority.
God bless America! What an important decision for all Americans. Because if George Bush can do that to Ali al-Marri, he can do it to you or me.
Even in these days of King George, isn’t it nice to know somebody’s keeping an eye on the Constitution?
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