America's Strength

The true strength of the United States lies in the resiliency of our system of constitutional democracy and of our people.

Today, the Supreme Court declared that President Bush's order that prisoners at Guantanamo be tried--if they are to be tried at all--by military commissions is unconstitutional, at least without specific congressional authority. The court also decided that Congressional legislation last year did not deprive at least the prisoners who had already filed suit from access to the courts.

A couple of sidelights, courtesy of The New York Times:

"In the courtroom on Thursday morning, the chief justice sat silently in his center chair as Justice Stevens, sitting to his immediate right as the senior associate justice, read from the majority opinion. It made for a striking tableau on the final day of the first term of the Roberts court: the young chief justice, observing his work of just a year earlier taken apart point by point by the tenacious 86-year-old Justice Stevens, winner of a Bronze Star for his service as a Navy officer during World War II."

The Times article also quoted Lieut. Cmdr. Charles Swift, the military attorney assigned to the named plaintiff, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni accused of being Osama bin Laden's chauffeur. Reporting on his client's reaction to the decision, Lieut. Cmdr. Swift said, ""I think he was awe-struck that the court would rule for him, and give a little man like him an equal chance. Where he's from, that is not true." We wonder if Hamdan is similarly awe-struck--as he should be--by the fact that an officer in the service of the nation determined to convict him would go to such lengths to defend his rights. For a link to a CNN interview with Lieut. Cmdr. Swift go here.

The Times was unequivocal in its view of the decision: "The decision was such a sweeping and categorical defeat for the Bush administration that it left human rights lawyers who have pressed this and other cases on behalf of Guantanamo detainees almost speechless with surprise and delight, using words like 'fantastic,' 'amazing,' 'remarkable.' Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, a public interest law firm in New York that represents hundreds of detainees, said, 'It doesn't get any better.'"

A good day for the Constitution and all that it represents.

[Full disclosure: In his other life, your editor is counsel to two of the detainees at Guantanamo. He played no part in the case decided today.]