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Thu 18 Dec, 2003 09:56 pm
quote:
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Bush Administratin overstepped its authority
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, in a 2-1 decision, said the administration has no inherent constitutional power to sidestep the normal procedures required to imprison a U.S. citizen seized on American soil.
It also rejected the government's claim that it possessed legislative authority to lock up Padilla by virtue of the congressional joint resolution authorizing the war against Iraq.
The appellate panel said that the president's power as commander in chief does not override "the domestic rule of law." Congress and the courts, it said, cannot simply be bypassed.
Wish it was as good as it sounds.
Quote:The first decision by the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals concerned Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen detained on U.S. soil and held incommunicado in a Navy prison for the past 18 months. The court ruled 2-1 that the government did not have the right to treat him as an enemy combatant and ordered him transferred to civilian custody within 30 days or released.
Hours later, the U.S. Ninth Circuit of Appeals in San Francisco ruled also 2-1 that the Bush administration lacked authority to imprison foreign "enemy combatants" indefinitely. The court sent a lawsuit on behalf of a man detained at the U.S. Navy base in Guantanamo, Cuba, back to a lower court.
In both the cases the people involved are not US citizens and it's an easy thing to create a new class of 'criminal', rather than let courts and judges apply existing law.
Mr Stillwater wrote:Wish it was as good as it sounds.
Quote:The first decision by the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals concerned Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen detained on U.S. soil and held incommunicado in a Navy prison for the past 18 months. The court ruled 2-1 that the government did not have the right to treat him as an enemy combatant and ordered him transferred to civilian custody within 30 days or released.
Hours later, the U.S. Ninth Circuit of Appeals in San Francisco ruled also 2-1 that the Bush administration lacked authority to imprison foreign "enemy combatants" indefinitely. The court sent a lawsuit on behalf of a man detained at the U.S. Navy base in Guantanamo, Cuba, back to a lower court.
In both the cases the people involved are not US citizens and it's an easy thing to create a new class of 'criminal', rather than let courts and judges apply existing law.
Actually, Padilla is and always has been a US citizen (I highlighted the relavent passage above.).
Apologies, I had been reading the bits about him entering the States. Missed that rather relevant point.