FINALLY - they are questioning the "enemy combatant" status!

[annabanana]

From the first moment I heard the term "enemy combatant" and realized that it could be unilaterally applied to anyone..anyone, I have been waiting to see some real legal pushback.

If these rights are unalienable; "Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness", then the right of Habeas Corpus is ALSO unalienable. If we can be denied that right, we can be denied Liberty. If we can be denied Liberty..

we are not a free people.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/02/washington/02terror.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

RICHMOND, Va., Feb. 1 — In a series of probing and sometimes testy exchanges with a government lawyer, two of three judges on a federal appeals court panel here indicated Thursday that they might not be prepared to accept the Bush administration’s claim that it has the unilateral power to detain people it calls enemy combatants.
-snip-
“What would prevent you from plucking up anyone and saying, ‘You are an enemy combatant?’ ” Judge Roger L. Gregory of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit asked the administration’s lawyer, David B. Salmons.
-snip-
Judge Motz indicated that the government’s shifting legal tactics in other cases had lost it a measure of credibility. It moved Jose Padilla, once labeled an enemy combatant, into the criminal justice system as the United States Supreme Court was considering whether to hear his challenge to that designation.

[annabanana]

1. *

[magellan]

2. Wow. The answer to Judge Gregory's question clarifies it for anyone who doubted!!

“What would prevent you from plucking up anyone and saying, ‘You are an enemy combatant?’ ” Judge Roger L. Gregory of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit asked the administration’s lawyer, David B. Salmons.

Mr. Salmons said the executive branch was entitled to make that judgment in wartime without interference from the courts. “A citizen, no less than an alien, can be an enemy combatant,” he added.

Freaking CHILLING.

[malaise]

4. Great to see judges taking on

these goons. Very good point for the doubters.

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

6. Especially this circuit court. It's very conservative

If they say no, that will likely settle it.

[Cerridwen]

12. Thanks, magellan.

To all the good people who were asking if the Military Commissions Act could be used against U.S. citizens, there you have the opinion of a lawyer representing the executive branch of the current administration.

[gratuitous]

3. What would prevent the administration . . . ?

Basically, the Justice Department attorney said that the Bush administration would be very, very careful about calling people "enemy combatants," and that should satisfy all those snoopy due process questions.

I don't hold out much hope for a favorable decision from the Fourth Circuit, but maybe there are still a few wonders yet to be seen in this age.

[annabanana]

9. Yeah... (*snort) "very, very careful"

[treestar]

5. Whatever the label, the concept there are some people without

human rights is the root of all evil.

[KenHodson]

7. there was something from Garrison Keiller a few months back

that I agreed with, BUT AT THE SAME TIME HE REALLY MISSED THE BOAT.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/10/02/opinion/edkeillor.php

Anyone can currently be labled an enemy combatant. Anyone!

[BuyingThyme]

8. Padilla is an American who was declared an

enemy combatant based on nothing but Bush lies. Bush has admitted to those lies. It's not "scary," it's done.

[nicknameless]

10. .

K&R

[Heywood J]

11. I think this is another key:

Judge Motz indicated that the government’s shifting legal tactics in other cases had lost it a measure of credibility. It moved Jose Padilla, once labeled an enemy combatant, into the criminal justice system as the United States Supreme Court was considering whether to hear his challenge to that designation.

Moving Padilla was an outright acknowledgment that their case would not stand up under scrutiny. It's an admission they knew the designation is not legal. Good on that judge for spotting the contradiction.