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DC Ct of Apps cites 2nd Amendment in Gitmo ruling
Clayton Cramer has the story. The DC court invoked Johnson v. Eisentrager, a Supreme Court ruling that reasoned that Nazis detained after the war did not have Bill of Rights protections:
"If the Fifth Amendment confers its rights on all the world . . . [it] would mean that during military occupation irreconcilable enemy elements, guerrilla fighters, and ‘werewolves’ [Nazi guerrillas] could require the American Judiciary to assure them freedoms of speech, press, and assembly as in the First Amendment, right to bear arms as in the Second, security against ‘unreasonable’ searches and seizures as in the Fourth, as well as rights to jury trial as in the Fifth and Sixth Amendments.”
Comments
I've talked to seemingly reasonable liberals -- friends, people I know well, who don't display any clear signs of massive cognitive impairment in ordinary life -- who believe precisely that we should accord al Qaeda, wherever we find them, all the rights of American citizens. Which is a lot more rights than they'll grant our own troops, of course, should they happen to be accused of anything.
Remember when we clobbered Zarqawi, there were morons weeping about how he didn't get a fair trial.
Glad to hear the Supremes have clarified this one.
Posted by: P. Froward at February 22, 2007 07:01 PM
Actually, that decision ws from the DC Appeals Court, not the Supreme Court. That will be the next step, should they choose to take the case.
Posted by: Jim at February 23, 2007 04:19 PM