A Victory for Liberty

Even a conservative-leaning Supreme Court can't stomach Bush's absolute-power doctrine. Now we're getting somewhere.

High Court Deals Blow to Bush's War on Terror
By James Vicini, Reuters

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court placed the first limits on President Bush's war on terrorism on Monday when it ruled that terror suspects can use the American judicial system to challenge their confinement.

The rulings, the first the court has made on Bush's anti-terrorism policies, marked a defeat for the president's assertion of sweeping powers to indefinitely hold "enemy combatants" after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

In one ruling, the court said the nearly 600 foreign terror suspects held for two years at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba could turn to American courts to challenge their confinement. In another ruling, it said an American terror suspect held in his nation is entitled to a chance to contest the government's decision.

"Today's historic rulings are a strong repudiation of the administration's argument that its actions in the war on terrorism are beyond the rule of law and unreviewable by American courts," Steven Shapiro of the American Civil Liberties Union said.

(Full article)