One court away

[solarbird]

Mr. Obama's legal team argues its way into a loophole: kidnap people to Bagram, rather than Gitmo, no matter who or where they kidnap them from, and the DC Court of Appeals rules they have no legal right to habeas corpus; they can be black-holed there forever. The technicals of the argument are that Bagram is in a war zone (Afghanistan), and it doesn't matter how the prisoners got there, or where they were arrested, or from where they were kidnaped, or by whom; once they're there, it's TOO BAD FOR YOU, FUCKERS. The court specifically states the nationality of those held is irrelevant (citizens or noncitizens), and they ignore the fact that one of those involved claimed to have been grabbed in Thailand and moved to Afghanistan, dismissing the claim as irrelevant speculation. They acknowledge that it would be relevant, but dismiss any opportunity to assert it, making a lovely little Catch-22 in the original sense.

And Bagram is conveniently located near the latest American torture facility, too.

This particular court has found ways to support ignoring Constitutional right to habeas corpus before. But if it goes to the US Supreme Court. Justice Stevens was one of the 5 in the 5-4 ruling upholding some right to habeas corpus at Gitmo.

Greenwald, again:

So congratulations to the United States and Barack Obama for winning the power to abduct people anywhere in the world and then imprison them for as long as they want with no judicial review of any kind. When the Boumediene decision was issued in the middle of the 2008 presidential campaign, John McCain called it "one of the worst decisions in the history of this country." But Obama hailed it as "a rejection of the Bush Administration's attempt to create a legal black hole at Guantanamo," and he praised the Court for "rejecting a false choice between fighting terrorism and respecting habeas corpus."

He's got a great extended quote of then-Senator Obama intoning against this very process he's since worked so hard to reinstate and enshrine, you should go read it.

More analysis here. Compare and contrast to the new Tory/LibDem coalition in the UK actually investigating torture, et al, as promised during the campaign.

Comments

[phillipalden.livejournal.com]

The whole circus disgusts me.

We have probably been secretly torturing people for decades, (if not since the founding of this country.) But this institutionalization of torture and a Supreme Court that no longer represents justice, means that we've now become as bad as any "dictator" we railed against.

I'm so tired of these "un-winnable" wars, (like Vietnam only more expensive,) and so many other things, (like Blackwater.) I stand by my conviction that our government is hopelessly diseased, that we have to "kill the patient," and then develop something better.

I don't even watch TV because it's just another diseased part of our country.

To me it's simple: We can change. Or we can be fucked.