If you guessed Congress, or more specifically, Democrats in Congress, I’m sorry to disappoint you. However, you would be correct if you guessed that other, activist branch of government conservatives and Republicans are so fond of railing against:

Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan said at a hearing the government needed to understand “that the time has come to move [the Guantanamo Bay Detainee cases] forward.” […]

Hogan, named to coordinate the lawsuits, said he was committed to moving the cases forward as quickly as possible. […]

U.S. Justice Department plans to have up to 50 lawyers working on the cases may not be enough, Hogan said. The department has to understand these cases must be addressed first, before other matters.

Hogan said delays would “reflect badly” on the government and would cause him to become concerned and suspicious. […]

Acting Assistant Attorney General Gregory Katsas asked the judge to allow the government to file new evidence to justify holding the detainees, a process expected to take months.

The initial evidence, filed in 2004, was based on the findings of military tribunals that determined the prisoners were “enemy combatants.”

Hogan expressed concern about allowing the government to file amended information without showing it was necessary.

There are nearly 250 pending cases, with more expected to be filed. After 6 and 1/2 years of delay the wheels of justice are moving. I salute Judge Hogan for not putting up with anymore bullshit delays from the Bush administration’s Department of Justice. Oh, and for our conservative and/or Republican readers, getting one’s day in court isn’t an activist position, it’s the default position set forth in the Constitution. One could even say that after more than 220 years, it’s the “conservative” position. Certainly it was the original intent of the founding fathers that prisoners should have the right to challenge their imprisonment before a court of law. I know that may be hard to get your minds around, the idea that we are a nation under the rule of laws, not men, but I suggest you re-read your Federalist Papers again. Trust me, it’s there.

As an aside, Judge Hogan was an appointee in 1982 of Ronald Reagan, that well known liberal President. Guess that explains a lot, doesn’t it?

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