Monday, November 10, 2003
You Keep Me Hangin' On
Today's decision by the Supreme Court to review the status of foreign nationals detained at Guantanamo in the war on terrorism puts pressure squarely on the Supremes again. Lots of legal analysts are smarter than I am, and I'll be eager to read what they have to say about the likely outcome of the review (arguments set for March with a decision by June). But the Guantanamo detainees seem to me to represent a critical fault line in the political divisions in this country at the moment--civil libertarians demand that these foreign nationals receive the rights guaranteed to people by the Constitution, while conservatives and the Bush Administration argue that the Constitution doesn't reach to foreign soil and foreigners, even when they are under American jurisdiction. If the Supreme Court rules for the administration, it will go a long way toward validating Bush's new doctrine of some rights for some people whenever he says so. If it rules against, it's easy to imagine a Constitutional crisis in which the administration simply refuses to obey the Court. In both cases, the decision--which will come in the middle of the 2004 campaign--will energize partisans on both sides. If it goes against the liberals, they will redouble their efforts to throw Bush out; if it goes against the Administration, their supporters will redouble their efforts to reelect Bush to give him a shot at those coveted Court nominees that will change the court's ideological balance.
My first reaction when I heard of the decision to review was that here was an opportunity for more partisan mischief of the sort that got Bush installed three years ago. But now I don't think so. Either way, the Supremes are going to throw a bomb into the campaign summer of 2004.
Today's decision by the Supreme Court to review the status of foreign nationals detained at Guantanamo in the war on terrorism puts pressure squarely on the Supremes again. Lots of legal analysts are smarter than I am, and I'll be eager to read what they have to say about the likely outcome of the review (arguments set for March with a decision by June). But the Guantanamo detainees seem to me to represent a critical fault line in the political divisions in this country at the moment--civil libertarians demand that these foreign nationals receive the rights guaranteed to people by the Constitution, while conservatives and the Bush Administration argue that the Constitution doesn't reach to foreign soil and foreigners, even when they are under American jurisdiction. If the Supreme Court rules for the administration, it will go a long way toward validating Bush's new doctrine of some rights for some people whenever he says so. If it rules against, it's easy to imagine a Constitutional crisis in which the administration simply refuses to obey the Court. In both cases, the decision--which will come in the middle of the 2004 campaign--will energize partisans on both sides. If it goes against the liberals, they will redouble their efforts to throw Bush out; if it goes against the Administration, their supporters will redouble their efforts to reelect Bush to give him a shot at those coveted Court nominees that will change the court's ideological balance.
My first reaction when I heard of the decision to review was that here was an opportunity for more partisan mischief of the sort that got Bush installed three years ago. But now I don't think so. Either way, the Supremes are going to throw a bomb into the campaign summer of 2004.
