Posted on 10/08/2006 4:57:50 PM PDT by SmithL
The Navy lawyer who led a successful Supreme Court challenge of the Bush administration's military tribunals for detainees at Guantanamo Bay has been passed over for promotion and will have to leave the military, The Miami Herald reported Sunday.
Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift, 44, will retire in March or April under the military's "up or out" promotion system. Swift said last week he was notified he would not be promoted to commander.
He said the notification came about two weeks after the Supreme Court sided with him and against the White House in the case involving Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni who was Osama bin Laden's driver.
"It was a pleasure to serve," Swift told the newspaper. He added he would have defended Hamdan even if he had known it would cut short his Navy career.
"All I ever wanted was to make a difference — and in that sense I think my career and personal satisfaction has been beyond my dreams," Swift said.
The Pentagon had no comment Sunday.
A graduate of the University of Seattle School of Law, Swift plans to continue defending Hamdan as a civilian.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Guy I knew was passed over in the Navy because his turn at the bridge in an aircraft carrier turned out wrong.
Supposedly he brought the carrier to a halt during flight operations to avoid hitting an oil tanker or other type of fleet support ship.
I really wished they'd promoted him though; then he wouldn't have been in our office creating misery for everybody all the time.
Although it (up or out) is SOP in the military, this one sure seems fishy.
Oh well, the guy will make 2-3 (or 20-30?) times as much money in civilian life now.
get him out.
he'll easily be able to find employment with some Dem connected law firm or the ACLU.
Yep - sounds like a whiney liberal to me.
Too bad his aspirations didn't include defending his country against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
Swift boated?
A classy man - and an inspiration to me as an attorney-in-training.
I respect him.
Well life sucks and then you die. What goes around comes around. Can't take the heat get out of the kitchen. Mama sissy took my teddy bear :(
AMF
His country ordered him to take the case, or do you think he should have half-assed his assignment to get the outcome you wanted?
>>>>"Too bad his aspirations didn't include defending his country against all enemies, foreign and domestic"<<<<<<
Spot on post
TT
Some of us want the outcome to be the defeat of alQaeda ...
I'm glad he's out too. He can continue to do law for the whiney PERPETRATORS OF VIOLENCE.
Yes, he should have. Who would have held it against him?
Irony? I'm saying to myself, "He was wrong on the law, but slavishly politically correct. And he gets the Supreme Weenies, who also don't respect the Constitution, to agree with him, which wasn't hard."
There's no benefit to anyone in this case, materially or in principle, to anyone except this lousy lawyer, for whom it is publicity.
What's to admire about this traitor feathering his nest?
Every lawyer has the ethical duty of zealousness for his client. Taking a dive just because the defendant is particularly unsavory is grounds for disbarment.
Put it this way - if I were a Navy JAG, and ordered to defend a terrorist, I'd do it to the best of my abilities. That's part of what makes us better than them.
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