It may have been an effort to pre-empt the U.S. Supreme Court, but at least alleged dirty bomber Jose Padilla at last has been formally charged — and not with plotting to attack America, interestingly, but with conspiring to murder, maim and kidnap people overseas. Americans can argue all day about whether foreign enemy combatants are entitled to rights in U.S. courts. But Padilla is a U.S. citizen, and the legal limbo in which he’s been trapped for three years has been unacceptable. If the case is legitimate, it should be able to hold up in civilian court, no exemption from the Constitution required.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
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7 Comments
Habeus corpus. Nobody in the Bush Administration even knows what it means.
Those who desire security over freedom will have neither. Benj. Franklin
Galahad,Of course- it’s in Latin!
Habeus Corpus? I think this case has gone beyond that. What ever happened to the right to a fair and speedy trial? At the rate they’re going, Padilla will die of old age before he goes to trial. 3 years is far too long to bring a case to trial. If the procecution has a case, they need to bring it.
Huzzah!Puh-leeze.
The only crime actually committed here is when the courts allowed Padilla to be held for years without a charge being filed. That’s the real crime against the US.
Whew! I savor this small victory.
Jose Padilla was a test of applying a surreal category of nonperson–”enemy combatant”–to American citizens. If the Bush adminstration had won, any one of us could have been dragged into endless custody with no lawyer and no communications. All on the basis of “some evidence” (this is the standard the Bushies actually argued for at the Supreme Court!). And, in case anyone forgot, that evidence is something the government was unwilling to let anyone–not even judges–see.
It’s interesting how the charges now essentially have nothing to do with the original allegations. I’m not surprised; Padilla was convenient.
Actually, I would have preferred they got slammed by the Supreme Court. They obviously saw it coming.