The Supreme Court’s opinion on the Military Commissions Act was just issued today. I don’t have a copy of the opinion yet, but, according to news reports, by a 5-4 decision in which Justice Kennedy wrote the majority opinion, the Court ruled that detainees at Guantanamo Bay have the right to contest their detentions in the federal courts:
Supreme Court ruled Thursday that foreign terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are protected by the Constitution and can appeal their detention in U.S. civilian courts.
In a 5-4 ruling, the court also said that the Bush administration’s system for classifying detainees as enemy combatants does not meet basic legal standards.
Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the majority, said, “The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times.” He was joined by the court’s four more liberal justices, Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, David Souter and John Paul Stevens. […]
The Supreme Court now says the 2006 law unconstitutionally suspended habeas corpus — a prisoner’s right to challenge his detention. The ruling overturns a lower court decision that said the law was constitutional.
I’ll have more to say about this after I read the text of the opinion, hopefully by tomorrow. In the meantime, here is Senator Russ Feingold’s reaction to the decision posted at his website:
June 12, 2008
“Today’s Supreme Court decision is yet another stinging rebuke of the Bush administration’s extreme views on executive power. Time after time, the Supreme Court has rebuffed the administration’s attempts to undermine the Constitution, from its Rasul and Hamdi decisions in 2004 to its Hamdan decision in 2006. It is a testament to our system of government that the Court has rejected the habeas-stripping provisions of the Military Commissions Act and reaffirmed that the government does not have the power to detain people indefinitely and arbitrarily without judicial review. The writ of habeas corpus provides one of the most significant protections of human freedom against arbitrary government action ever created. We can and must fight terrorists without abandoning the principles on which our country was founded.”
