Unlike many, I won’t profess to know what Jesus would do, the historical record is a little fuzzy on that one. But I’m pretty sure I know what Jefferson would do when it comes to the blatant disregard the Administration has had for the Constitution. For the time being, so does the Supreme Court.
Yesterday’s ruling on habeas corpus for the Guantanamo detainees is a win for Thomas Jefferson. Writing for the majority, Justice Kennedy declares: “The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times.”
Yes.
However, perhaps most troubling is that this most fundamental of issues was decided on a 5-4 vote split along party lines.
It should not come as a shock that the right wing of the court , led by Bush appointees Justices Roberts and Scalia, were dismissive of the Constitution’s relevance and alarmist in their rhetoric. Scalia writes in his opinion that “It will almost certainly cause more Americans to be killed. The nation will live to regret what the court has done today.”
He went on to say that the decision is not based on legal principles, “but rather an inflated notion of judicial supremacy.”
Chief Justice Roberts was dismissive of habeas corpus as a fundamental element of the Constitution, suggesting that it is “most fundamentally a procedural right.”
You’ve got to be kidding me.
George Bush’s stacking of the Supreme Court will go down as perhaps his most enduring legacy, especially if the balance of power shifts from the Jeffersonian view of the Constitution’s enduring relevance to the Republican view that it may be ignored, overruled at the whim of a President. To have this view supported by 4 out of 9 Justices should have alarm bells ringing. The Judicial Branch is supposed to be the check and balance on the Executive Branch. This time, the system has worked. What about next time? Or the time after that??
It’s not surprising that the two presumptive candidates come down on opposite sides of this issue. Do I even need to say which is which?
The most fundamental principles on which this great country was founded are at risk, and will be more so if the Republicans have the opportunity of appointing one more Justice.
What would Jefferson do?
Vote accordingly!
That’s my .02,
Martin Suter
(martin.suter@iplicensing.net)
Ditto
If you're a US Supreme Court nerd like me, you might enjoy Peter Iron's _People's History of the United States_ (with an intro by another fave author of mine, Howard Zinn)
(Peter Irons is famous for his role in getting the US gov to apologize for its role in the Korematsu Japanese intern camps of the 1940s)
Posted by: rog | June 27, 2008 at 03:00 AM