“In a notice dated Wednesday, the Justice Department listed 196 pending habeas cases, some of which cover groups of detainees. The new Military Commissions Act (MCA), it said, provides that ‘no court, justice, or judge’ can consider those petitions or other actions related to treatment or imprisonment filed by anyone designated as an enemy combatant, now or in the future.” – Washington Post
So, once you’re designated an “enemy combatant” you have no right to challenge that in court. Peachy.
And just how do you get to be designated an enemy combatant? However and whenever the President or Himmler Secretary of Defense feel like it.
A finding, whether before, on, or after the date of the enactment of the Military Commissions Act of 2006, by a Combatant Status Review Tribunal or another competent tribunal established under the authority of the President or the Secretary of Defense that a person is an unlawful enemy combatant is dispositive for purposes of jurisdiction for trial by military commission under this chapter. – Military Commissions Act of 2006
Here’s the key question. If you (and I mean you) are accused of being an unlawful enemy combatant, stripped of whatever you’re carrying (like your wallet and ID), and you don’t have habeas corpus rights to challenge it in court, how do you prove you’re a citizen…?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15321167/
[ via a co-conspirator ]
Didn’t Dubya *swear* to *protect and defend* the Constitution?????
grrrr (frown)
The MCA is one of the worst pieces of legislation (along with the so-called Patriot Act) ever passed by Congress and signed by Der Fuhrer, I mean The President. I was extremely disappointed with both of Florida’s senators for voting in favor of this bill, as well as the 18 Florida congressmen and women who sided with the Adminsitration is passing this travesty.
Although most legal scholars have concluded that the Act would only apply to alien non-citizens of the U.S., situations such as you describe are not beyond the realm of possibility. Even if the chance is small as it relates to U.S. citizens, I am also very much concerned that my country, the land of the free and the home of the brave, is behaving like the Third World countries we are supposedly trying to bring democracy to around the globe. Fair and speedy trials? Forget it, we’ll stick you in a hole, torture you as we feel the need and deny you any of the rights we have championed throughout our history. What does that say about us as a nation? How can we stand with our heads held high and the torch of freedom raised, when our behavior speaks so much louder than our words?
I weep for my country.
Just two more years of this nonsense, thankfully….
It’s obvious you hate America…and it’s troops…and God.
Please surrender at the nearest reeducation center.
Never mind, we’ll pick you up.