Top U.S. court says terrorism detainees have rights *
Posted on 12 June 2008 by Jack
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that foreign terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay have rights under the constitution to challenge their detention in U.S. civilian courts.
The justices, in a 5-4 ruling Thursday, handed the U.S. administration its third setback at the high court since 2004 over its treatment of prisoners.
The inmates are being held indefinitely and without charges at the U.S. naval base in Cuba.
It was not immediately clear whether this ruling, unlike the first two, would lead to prompt hearings for the detainees, some of whom have been held more than six years.
Roughly 270 men remain at the island prison, classified as enemy combatants and held on suspicion of terrorism or links to al-Qaida and the Taliban.
[Source]
Update: Malkin: Supreme Court opens up Gitmo lawsuit floodgates
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June 12th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
“Both the Chief Justice and Justice Antonin Scalia issued dissenting opinions, and all four dissenters joined in both dissents. In his dissent, Justice Scalia writes, “The game of bait-and-switch that today’s opinion plays upon the Nation’s Commander in Chief will make the war harder on us. It will almost certainly cause more Americans to be killed.” Justice Scalia’s 25-page dissenting opinion concludes, “The Nation will live to regret what the Court has done today. I dissent.”
“The nation will live to regret what the Court has done today”. Ominous words indeed.