The Supremes
I’m in the process of going through the U.S. Supreme Court decision regarding military tribunals for detainees. Although it’s more than 180 pages long, I can tell you a couple things.
1. It does not mandate detainees be tried in civilian courts. What it does say is there is no statutory on
Constitutional scheme for the current military tribunal system the President wants to use. It says he
can use the civilian courts or military court-martial. He can also go back to Congress and have the
process clarified.
2. When the Congress removed jurisdiction for civilian courts to hear the claims of detainees, it did not
clearly identify those currently in the system, therefore the civilian courts can hear the current claim.
By the way, the Court did note that one version of the bill that did create the Detainee Treatment Act
of 2005 that would have included pending cases was voted down.
3. No terrorists are going free. They just have to be tried according to civilian law or the Uniform Code of
Military Justice.
I’ll be reviewing the opinion through the course of the day. But I thought you should know this before the idiots and nut jobs start commenting without even having read the opinion.
