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U.S. Supreme Court Rules Against Bush on Guantanamo Trials

The U.S. Supreme Court finally took a firm stance on Bush's abuse of presidential powers in its ruling Thursday on Guantanamo trials. The ruling was 5-3 with the the three conservative justices, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, strongly in support of the government.

While the administration could come up with a new system, a better option would be to hold regular military courts-martial for detainees, the high court said. Those trials, used for soldiers, provide somewhat similar legal protections to those that defendants receive in U.S. courts.

The Bush administration did not appear ready to accept that.

U.S. Supreme Court Blocks Guantanamo Trials
Top U.S. court: Bush overstepped authority with Guantanamo war crimes trials
By GINA HOLLAND, AP ONLINE

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court rebuked President Bush and his anti-terror policies Thursday, ruling that his plan to try Guantanamo Bay detainees in military tribunals violates U.S. and international law.

The president and congressional Republicans immediately pledged to work on a new strategy for special trials for some of the hundreds of suspected al-Qaida and Taliban operatives rounded up in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other countries.

Bush said the ruling "won't cause killers to be put out on the street."

The court declared 5-3 that the president's attempt to resurrect a type of military trial last used in the aftermath of World War II violates U.S. military law and the Geneva conventions that set international standards for dealing with people captured in armed conflicts.

The ruling focused on Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a one-time driver for Osama bin Laden who has spent four years in the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He faces a single count of conspiring to commit terrorism.

Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift, Hamdan's Navy lawyer, said he told the Yemeni about the ruling by telephone. "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," Swift said.

The decision could have a broad impact on the administration's legal justification for many of its policies in the global fight against terrorism, from eavesdropping to detention policies in Iraq.

Read full article here: AOL News, June 29, 2006


Tags for this entry: US Supreme Court, Bush, Guantanamo Bay.

posted by Annamarie at 11:15 PM