David

Karki

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June 16, 2008

Supreme Stupidity: Impeach the Imperial Five

Once again, the dictatorship of the black robe has struck. Five Supreme Court justices have legislated from the bench, usurping and abrogating power to themselves that constitutionally belongs to the president and Congress. And the result is that American lives are much more at risk.

I am speaking, of course, of the atrocious decision made this week that gives captured terrorist combatants habeas corpus appellate access to American courts. We're talking about murderous monsters who are not U.S. citizens, who haven't even followed the Geneva Convention by wearing a uniform or carrying a flag and by attacking nothing but civilians, and who are waging war against us in guerilla fashion.

The Supreme Court, in its infinite liberal hyper-partisan stupidity, threw out laws carefully crafted by Congress and President Bush in 2006 – the Detainee Treatment and Military Commission Acts – that went to great lengths to provide good-faith rules of handling prisoners of war. In fact, these are the most extensive ever passed, which I suppose is necessary for an enemy who is the least abiding of the rules-of-war we have ever fought.

Going forward, every last terrorist scumbag we capture while planning or executing an attack can now appeal to all-seeing, all-knowing judges, who will substitute their judgment for that of the military. And should some prisoner of war whine that he wasn't read his rights when captured, or evidence was obtained without a search warrant, he'll be allowed to walk free if the judge is loony enough to let him.

Welcome to the War on Terror fought by the Law and Order rules. It's the same mentality that the Clinton Administration had, viewing terrorism as a crime and law-enforcement matter, not as an act of war. And that softness and naïveté is what directly led to bombing after bombing after bombing in the 1990s. From the first World Trade Center attack in 1993, to Khobar Towers, to the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, to the USS Cole, and culminating in 9/11.

Witness the stunning idiocy of Justice Anthony Kennedy, speaking for the rogue five. Since Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution says that “habeus corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it,” and we're not currently under either, it stands. Never mind that the Founders could never have envisioned an enemy who fights with the tactics that this does, that 9/11 and future such attacks certainly qualify as a situation where public safety requires it, and that none of this applies to foreign terrorists to begin with!

Now, as then, there will be blood. And as it was on the hands of the Clintons then, it will be on the hands of five liberal justices who see no limits on their power. Think I'm overstating it? Just last month, a released Gitmo detainee blew himself up and killed a group of Iraqi soldiers in Mosul. And he was one whom the military thought it was less risky to let go. Those soldiers might be alive today had we held on to their killer.

There is another way in which blood will be let due to this: On the actual field of battle, U.S. and allied troops might just kill the enemy to save the endless litigation, rather than capturing them when they have the chance. If the motivation behind this is some twisted sense of compassion for terrorists, this will only get them killed faster. And on the off-chance someone innocent might get mixed in, get them killed unjustly. Hard to see how that end fits the intent.

All told, this decision, in which five imperial justices declared that the Constitution and Bill of Rights really are a suicide pact, is so far afield and so in defiance of the oath they took to uphold those two documents, that impeachment would not be an unjustifiable response. Short of that, Congress ought to use their power to check-and-balance the court given in Article III, Section 2 by re-passing the 2006 Acts with language officially removing this from the Supreme Court's jurisdiction.

It's already not, but since they can't seem to figure it out, a stern reminder and rebuke is in order.

That they will bomb again if and when given the chance ought to go without saying. But if the terrorists are smart, they will not target the Supreme Court or, say, the headquarters of the ACLU. They know who their friends are, after all. Here's praying no one else has pay the ultimate price as a result of their treason.

© 2008 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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