Glenn Greenwald, former constitutional lawyer, has a piece on the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down part of the military commissions act and restores some semblance of Habeas Corpus. The ruling was 5-4. The four dissenters were Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, John Roberts and Sam Alito. As happy as I am to see one of the major institutions uphold some of the basic values and principles of our government, however limited it may be, the score is also important 5-4. That is how close we are: one justice. We are one justice away from an unquestioned unitary executive. One justice away from a president being able to throw a person in jail and throw away the key.
As Greenwald notes, McCain has promised to appoint justices in the mold of Roberts and Alito. Despite McCain’s flip-flopping nature, along with his obvious stay in Iraq stance, and proclivity to start a war with Iran, I have no doubt this is one campaign promise he would keep.
In a sane world, this decision would used to impeach the four supreme justices who dissented. We don’t live in a sane world, and we are standing at the brink of a much darker one.
[...] other than fascist. Back in February, I thought the word was too much of a distraction. However, as the 5-4 decision to restore Habeas Corpus demonstrates, we are only hanging on by a thre…. 5-4, think about what that means. Four judges on the Supreme Court endorse the notion that the [...]
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