April 2, 2009, Unlikely judicial heroes
Candace tells us that Judge John Bates did our Constitution a huge solid today by ruling that three Bagram detainees who were moved there from outside of Afghanistan could challenge the legality of their detention in American courts, citing the Supreme Court's rulings that the U.S. government cannot evade the Constitution by moving prisoners to locations it claims are beyond law.
Judge Bates has made a number of rulings with respect to Candace's client al-Ghizzawi with which we have disagreed... but today, he deserves all of our props for a courageous ruling that means that the concept of zones of lawlessness will not be recognized at law. And once again, the Obama Administration is reminded that we voted for "change"... adopting the most loathsome policy of the Bush Administration is not a good policy... or usually even a lawful policy.