The Supreme Court Passes The Buck In The Jose Padilla Case
Robert Paul Reyes
April 13, 2006
George W. Bush has embraced Richard Nixon's motto: "If the president does it, It's not illegal."
King George II rules by executive decree, he conducts domestic wiretapping without obtaining court warrants, starts wars nilly-willy and orders the indefinite detention of American citizens without filing specific criminal charges.
Nobody is willing to put the brakes on the runaway presidency of Bush The Reckless, the Senate is afraid to censure him and the Supreme Court is hesitant to restore some checks and balances.
The Supreme Court had the chance to bring the Kafkaesque situation of Jose Padilla to an end, but the Supreme Court declined to review the Bush administration's handling of Padilla's case.
Padilla was arrested in 2002, declared an enemy combatant, and held indefinitely without charges in a military prison.
Finally a few months later the Bush administration brought criminal charges against Padilla and transferred him to the federal prison system.
Because of the Supreme Court's timidity, President Bush can continue to order American citizens captured in the United States held in military jails without any bringing forth criminal charges or a trial.
Jose Padilla is no boy scout, the former gang member is an al Qaeda wannabe and he was allegedly involved in a plot to set off a dirty bomb in the United States.
But Padilla is an American citizen, and as such, he is innocent until proven guilty, and it's an outrage that he was imprisoned for so long without knowing what charges he was facing.
Congress and The Supremes don't have the gumption to stand up to a weak and ineffectual leader.
I close with the words of Harry Taylor, a 62-year old American patriot, who had the fortitude to reprimand Bush:
"You never stop talking about freedom, and I appreciate that. But while I listen to you talk about freedom, I see you assert your right to tap my telephone, to arrest me and hold me without charges, to try to preclude me from breathing clean air and drinking clean water and eating safe food. What I want to say to you, is that I, in my lifetime, I have never felt more ashamed of, nor more frightened by, my leadership in Washington. I feel like, despite your rhetoric, that compassion and common sense have been left far behind during your administration. I would hope, from time to time, that you have the humility and the grace to be ashamed of yourself."
King George II rules by executive decree, he conducts domestic wiretapping without obtaining court warrants, starts wars nilly-willy and orders the indefinite detention of American citizens without filing specific criminal charges.
Nobody is willing to put the brakes on the runaway presidency of Bush The Reckless, the Senate is afraid to censure him and the Supreme Court is hesitant to restore some checks and balances.
The Supreme Court had the chance to bring the Kafkaesque situation of Jose Padilla to an end, but the Supreme Court declined to review the Bush administration's handling of Padilla's case.
Padilla was arrested in 2002, declared an enemy combatant, and held indefinitely without charges in a military prison.
Finally a few months later the Bush administration brought criminal charges against Padilla and transferred him to the federal prison system.
Because of the Supreme Court's timidity, President Bush can continue to order American citizens captured in the United States held in military jails without any bringing forth criminal charges or a trial.
Jose Padilla is no boy scout, the former gang member is an al Qaeda wannabe and he was allegedly involved in a plot to set off a dirty bomb in the United States.
But Padilla is an American citizen, and as such, he is innocent until proven guilty, and it's an outrage that he was imprisoned for so long without knowing what charges he was facing.
Congress and The Supremes don't have the gumption to stand up to a weak and ineffectual leader.
I close with the words of Harry Taylor, a 62-year old American patriot, who had the fortitude to reprimand Bush:
"You never stop talking about freedom, and I appreciate that. But while I listen to you talk about freedom, I see you assert your right to tap my telephone, to arrest me and hold me without charges, to try to preclude me from breathing clean air and drinking clean water and eating safe food. What I want to say to you, is that I, in my lifetime, I have never felt more ashamed of, nor more frightened by, my leadership in Washington. I feel like, despite your rhetoric, that compassion and common sense have been left far behind during your administration. I would hope, from time to time, that you have the humility and the grace to be ashamed of yourself."
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