A conservative federal appeals court harshly rebuked the Bush administration’s anti-terrorism strategy Monday, ruling that U.S. residents cannot be locked up indefinitely as “enemy combatants” without being charged. Perhaps not surprisingly, the lone moronic dissenting vote was cast by a Bush appointee, on the bizarre rationale that American residents should be treated as guilty until proven innocent: “Although al-Marri [the detainee] was not personally engaged in armed conflict with U.S. forces, he is the type of stealth warrior used by al-Qaeda to perpetrate terrorist acts against the United States….” In other words, the defendant wasn’t guilty, but he was the “type of” person who might someday be guilty, so let’s toss out any Constitutional rights this person has and lock him into solitary confinement for the rest of his life with no hope of ever getting a trial. Judge Hudson, does the word “junto” mean anything to you?
