Thursday, June 19, 2008

Granting Constitutional Rights to Non-Citizens

The US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Boumediene v. Bush to grant non-citizens the right to petition citizen courts challenging the legality of their detentions.

Personally I'm with Justice Scalia on this decision: it's a bad decision that does not square with the U.S. Constitution or consistent legal precedence from the Civil War forward. While there can be innocent people imprisoned by the military as enemy combatants, this "solution" creates serious problems in the future.

Several people I've spoken with have swallowed the sound bite that this will force the closure of Guantanamo Bay and the immediate release of all the prisoners. Not so. It says that the prisoners have the right to a hearing in a civil court of law. (In practice, I would speculate some prisoners might be released more quickly than others.)

John Piper points out something important to remember: I'm blessed to live in a country where the president follows the rule of law, even if he doesn't agree with it. There are restraints on power.

And I am grateful for our sovereign Lord.

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