Well, the Supreme Court handed down a ruling (PDF) today that tendered a serious reverse to the Bush administration in their attempt to deny civil rights to detainees at Guantanamo Bay.
Basically, the administration had tried to pull a fast one. They claimed that the US territory in Cuba (the Guantanamo Bay naval base) wasn't really sovereign territory because it was "owned" by Cuba. Thus, US law didn't apply and US (and foreign citizens) detained there didn't have a right to protection under US law (this was just one of many claims).
Today the US Supreme Court denied that contention in a 6-3 vote (thank God). Now the detainees will have a right to have their cases heard in a US court.
I'm all for whacking terrorists but this was just a little too "1984". Any one of us could have been stuck in that camp with no recourse, no access to lawyers, no visits from family, no visits from the ICRC.
The Supreme Court hasn't always done the right thing but I think, today, it did.
Posted by artandscience at June 28, 2004 12:03 PM