Certoriore dovrebb'essere certo


The Bush administration shifted Jose' Padilla from the brig where he was held as an enemy combatant under the "commander in chief" clause of the constitution which clearly states that the rest of the document is all a big joke and the President has absolute power to do whatever he wants so long as he says "wartime". Clearly they have done this to avoid review of this novel theory by the supreme court. They will argue that the case that Padilla has, you know, rights and stuff, is now moot.

They will be lying.

Mr. Freiman said he, too, had been told that the government reserved the right to detain Mr. Padilla again should he be acquitted.

I suppose the Bush administration will deny this, but I don't think such a judicial decision can be made on the basis of a disputed fact. The fact that the administration reserves the right to lock people up without trial even after they have entered the justice system is not in dispute

Indeed, the plea agreement Mr. Lindh signed contains an unusual provision. "For the rest of the defendant's natural life," it says, "should the government determine that the defendant has engaged in" one of more than a score of crimes of terrorism, "the United States may immediately invoke any right it has at that time to capture and detain the defendant as an unlawful enemy combatant."

The Supreme court may, in an act of depraved submission, refuse to hear the administrations absurd claims and note that they are absurd. However, I hope that this assault on the constitution will fail, because the assailants are too stupid to hide their determination to destroy it.

Also note there is still someone captured in the USA and held as an enemy combatant and note that the 5th amendment doesn't refer at all to the concept of citizenship.

Also note that, not only may we be in Iraq because we tortured Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, but we may be witnessing a direct assault on the constitution for the same reason

In the indictment unsealed Tuesday, Mr. Padilla was not charged with some of the most serious accusations against him, including plotting to explode a radioactive device, because the evidence needed to prove the case had been obtained through harsh questioning of two senior members of Al Qaeda, current and former government officials have said. The statements might not have been admissible in court and could have exposed classified information, the officials said.

Wow that use of "might" might be the most absurd in the history of the English language, as in two plus two might equal four. Let's try to count the reasons why such statements would not be admissible. First torture is wrong and must not be condoned or accepted. Second statements made under torture prove nothing accept a strong desire that the torture end. Admission of such evidence would ally the court with torturers and would interfere with the quest for the truth. Therefore, the court might not admit such evidence.

The courts have made clear, to people who can't read the constitution, that you can't lock someone up, because of something someone else said whle being tortured. As a result, the Bush administration concludes that they can do whatever they damn well please and can lock up anyone they choose.

Personally I'd call it kidnapping which is a high crime and an impeachable offense.