[Pikamax]

Court: Terror Suspects Must Get Lawyers
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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&e=3&u=/ap/20031218/ap_on_re_us/guantanamo_prisoners

By DAVID KRAVETS, Associated Press Writer

SAN FRANCISCO - A federal appeals court ruled Thursday for the first time that prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba should have access to lawyers and the American court system.


AP Photo



The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (news - web sites)' 2-1 decision was a rebuke to the Bush Administration.


The administration maintains that because the 660 men held there were picked up overseas on suspicion of terrorism and are being held on foreign land, they may be detained indefinitely without charges or trial.


The Supreme Court last month agreed to decide whether the detainees, picked up in Afghanistan and Pakistan, should have access to the courts. The justices agreed to hear that case after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that the prisoners had no rights to the American legal system.


The San Francisco appeals court, ruling Thursday on a petition from a relative of a Libyan the U.S. military captured in Afghanistan, said the Bush administration's indefinite detention of the men runs contrary to American ideals.


"Even in times of national emergency — indeed, particularly in such times — it is the obligation of the Judicial Branch to ensure the preservation of our constitutional values and to prevent the Executive Branch from running roughshod over the rights of citizens and aliens alike," Judge Stephen Reinhardt wrote for the majority.


"We cannot simply accept the government's position," Reinhardt continued, "that the Executive Branch possesses the unchecked authority to imprison indefinitely any persons, foreign citizens included, on territory under the sole jurisdiction and control of the United States, without permitting such prisoners recourse of any kind to any judicial forum, or even access to counsel, regardless of the length or manner of their confinement."

[rintense]

Can anyone tell me if this ruling defies the Patriot Act? If so, then doesn't that mean these judges are overturning the will of the people, since it was Congress (who represents the people) that passed the Patriot Act?

[Normal4me]

"The San Francisco appeals court, ruling Thursday on a petition from a relative of a Libyan the U.S. military captured in Afghanistan, said the Bush administration's indefinite detention of the men runs contrary to American ideals."

Welcome to America! It is PAST time to seal our borders and expel our enemies!

[dpa5923]

Well it turns out, according to the 9th Circuit, the Constitution is indeed a suicide pact.

[wgeorge2001]

"We cannot simply accept the government's position," Reinhardt continued, "that the Executive Branch possesses the unchecked authority to imprison indefinitely any persons, foreign citizens included, on territory under the sole jurisdiction and control of the United States, without permitting such prisoners recourse of any kind to any judicial forum, or even access to counsel, regardless of the length or manner of their confinement."


There are conservatives who believe that the judicial system is destroying the powers of the legislative and executive branches of the federal government and that the people who elect these politicians, who appoint judges that do not represent their core base voters, are now partaking of the results of this evil. Many of the liberal judges that now destroy our American constitution were appointed by (not!) conservative politicians that are now taking freedoms and justice away from America's citizen's, the parents of this country who are not voting are failing to protect their children's future, people should vote to protect their children from such liberal monsters that are corrupter's of unions and politicians and free enterprise. Campaign finance reform is an example of the dangers of such thinking which is resulting in the political and cultural disaster for our once great country.
It's a reckoning, if you will, and the people will suffer more than the foolish politicians, history proves it over and over.I wonder if this disaster can be corrected at this point of history. So much for allowing liberals to become rino politicians. A masterful stroke for the enemies of freedom of American's. A disaster for freedom loving citizens. Disaster for us and for the children.