Abstract

The War on Our Rights

The author claims that, while U.S. President George W. Bush may believe he is above the law when it comes to prosecuting potential terrorists, the Supreme Court could soon declare the Bush administration's anti-terrorism measures unconstitutional. The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled on December 18 that foreign nationals held as" enemy combatants" at Guantá namo Bay Naval Base have a right to seek court review of the legality of their detention. Never before has the Administration suffered such setbacks to its domestic war on terrorism. On December 3 a Court of Appeals ruled unconstitutional significant portions of the federal statute criminalizing "material support" to designated "terrorist organizations." On December 9 the military embarrassingly admitted that it did not even know whether supposedly secret information seized from Capt. James Yee, the former Muslim chaplain at Guantánamo, was classified. For all John Ashcroft's blustering, only one 9/11 terrorism case has actually gone to trial--and the outcome of that trial has now been called into serious question. These developments suggest why the Administration has sought to avoid any meaningful review of its detention of enemy combatants. As the Ninth Circuit said, courts have an "obligation" to "prevent the Executive Branch from running roughshod over the rights of citizens and aliens alike." The Guantánamo issue is already before the Supreme Court in another case, which will be decided by June.