Bush Loses Another Court Decision

A few years ago, it looked like Bush was unstoppable in his drive to tear up the Constitution and deny rights even to American citizens. He eavesdropped with unconstitutional wiretaps and snooped into Americans lives, even to the point of checking what books they were reading.

Even worse, Bush claimed the right to declare any American an "enemy combatant", and imprison them indefinitely without charges or the right of habeas corpus. Now it looks like Americans are starting to win back their rights bit by bit.

Last August, a federal judge ruled that Bush's domestic spy program violated the Constitution. A couple of weeks ago, two military judges threw out charges against Gitmo detainees, saying Bush's new military tribunal law did not give them juristiction. Now a federal appeals court has struck down Bush's ability to deny habeas corpus to American residents.

Ali al-Marri was a legal resident of the United States when he was arrested in December of 2001. Since 2003, he has been held in solitary confinement in the Naval brig in Charleston, South Carolina. He has been accused of having connections with al-Queda and is being held without charges or the right to face his accusors in court.

On Monday, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the government must either charge al-Marri or release him from custody. The court said, "Put simply, the Constitution does not allow the President to order the military to seize civilians residing within the United States and then detain them indefinitely without criminal process, and this is so even if he calls them 'enemy combatants'."

Finally, our courts are starting to uphold the Constitution. It's a good sign that this court in Virginia is generally considered a "conservative" court. Of course, the government will appeal this decision, but hopefully even the Supreme Court will decide the Constitution is more important than Bush's pride.