by Kenneth J. Theisen
On December 5, 2007 the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in Boumediene vs. Bush as to whether detainees at Guantanamo Bay, held by the Bush regime in the so-called “war on terror”, can challenge their detentions in federal court. For the last few years this has been a bone of contention between those that believe that the rule of law should govern and the fascists in the Bush regime who believe they are above the law or that they can pass laws that in effect nullify the Constitution.
In 2004 the Supreme Court in Rasul vs. Bush held that federal judges could exercise judicial review over the legality of the Guantanamo detainees. They soundly rejected the Bush regime argument that the Commander-in-Chief was the sole decision maker regarding “unlawful enemy combatants” taken in the “war on terror.” The regime faced another defeat last year in Hamdan vs. Rumsfeld when the court decided that the military commissions created by the Bush administration did not meet the minimum requirements for due process. In response to the Hamdan case, the lapdog Congress passed the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA) to authorize the military commissions to act as kangaroo courts. The MCA stripped the federal courts of jurisdiction when it stated that “no court, justice or judge shall have jurisdiction to hear or consider” any habeas corpus petitions from foreigners detained as enemy combatants by the Bush regime.
Boumediene will decide whether the MCA can constitutionally strip the federal courts of such a basic right as habeas corpus, a right enshrined in the law for 800 years. Past Supreme Court decisions have upheld suspension of habeas corpus only if there is an “adequate and effective” substitute allowing those detained to challenge their incarceration.
But the kangaroo tribunals set up by the Bush regime fall far short of adequate and effective. These tribunals forbid access to legal counsel at the hearings. They limit access to evidence and witnesses. They allow evidence that would be rejected by regular courts to be admitted. The “judges” are military officers with a vested interest in pleasing their superiors. The tribunals are nothing more than prosecution fronts.
This case is being closely watched by the international community and civil liberties advocates. How it is decided will indicate how this Supreme Court views the fascist direction of the law under the Bush regime and whether the regime will be allowed to continue unchallenged by the other branches of government. Congress has already shown where it stands. It passed the MCA in an effort to ingratiate itself to the Bush regime before last year’s congressional elections. The judiciary is now the only other branch of government standing in the way of the Bush administration agenda.
But regardless of what the court rules, we can not rely on the other branches of government as the sole check on the Bush regime. Repeatedly, both the legislative branch and the judicial branch have rubber-stamped regime actions. Only the people in their millions can effectively stop the regime as it more and more openly implements its fascist agenda.
World Can’t Wait will follow this case closely, but we can not wait until the Supreme Court rules. Make your voices heard now, before it is too late. Today the Bush regime’s enemies are held at Gitmo and similar type prisons around the world. But if we do not stop the regime soon, there will be millions of such “enemies” incarcerated at concentration camps both here and abroad. I prefer to resist while I am still free. What about you?