perfidy

Thank God. SCOTUSBlog has details, but the gist is that the Supreme Court has decided that the Executive Branch may not arbitrarily imprison citizens without trial or recourse. It sounds like a no-brainer, and in my opinion it is. What the hell were they thinking?

Under the government's theory, George Bush could declare John Kerry to be an enemy combatant and imprison him, without recourse or trial. Would they do that? Of course not. But they would have the right. I can't think of anything more anti-democratic, or anti-freedom. It is inexplicable to me that they would even have attempted to assert this power.

The most powerful voice on the opinion is that of Scalia, who thinks that the majority didn't go far enough in slapping down the government. His dissent goes right to the first principles of democracy, and is required reading.