In a reproach to President Bush’s administrative and supposed “anti-terror” policies, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the detainees held at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba deserve habeas corpus. In order words, the detainees must know the reasons they are being held. Furthermore, the prisoners have the right to appeal to U.S. Civilian Courts to challenge their indefinite imprisonment without charges. Of course, President Bush disagreed with the Courts’ decision and even suggested the he may seek further laws that could keep terror suspects detained in various prison camps, as his lame duck presidency comes to an end. Although the U.S. Supreme Court has repudiated his executive decision on Guantanamo Bay several times, our great President seems to not get the clue of what the American people truly wants.

Writing the opinion of the court, Justice Anthony Kennedy said “The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times." As if anyone was shocked, Justice Antonin Scalia dissented in saying "this will make the war harder on us. It will almost certainly cause more Americans to be killed." I disagree with Scalia’s comments and believe the reason so many Americans are being killed is because the Bush administration fallacies on terrorism. Not only do they bring misleading notions to the forefront, they take hundreds of people, detain them, torture them, and act as if there hands are clean because they put them on a naval base not directly on U.S. territory. Furthermore, hundreds of prisoners were released because lack of evidence, but this torture camp was still active. Our government continues to have “bloody hands” and I am glad the U.S. Supreme Court came to this deeply divided decision.  

Bush has argued the detentions are needed to protect the nation in a time of unprecedented threats from al-Qaida and other foreign terrorist groups. The president said Thursday, "It was a deeply divided court, and I strongly agree with those who dissented." He said he would consider whether to seek new laws in light of the ruling "so we can safely say to the American people, 'We're doing everything we can to protect you.' If the administration were truly doing everything to protect the American people, it is my belief that we would not be in this predicament in the first place. Doing everything you can to protect the American people would be to actually investigate and find people who are harming American values, not to find anyone who wears a head scarf and “looks like a Muslim,” whatever that may mean.

Chief Justice John Roberts criticized the decision of the court for striking down what he considers “the most generous set of procedural protections ever afforded aliens detained by this country as enemy combatants.” I am so sure that the prisoners detained are thanking the United States for the generosity our government has given them, especially when they use interrogation tactics, a.k.a. torture tactics that they pretend don’t exist.

Either way, I have not been to thrilled with recent decisions of the Supreme Court (mainly Baze v. Rees), but I am pleased to know that the Court decided to grant habeas corpus rights to the detainees held at Guantanamo Bay and recognizing a rule of law established hundreds of years ago – the right for a court to determine whether a prisoner is being detained lawfully.

For reference: Senator Barack Obama was in support of the Court’s decision, while Senator John McCain expressed his disapproval of the Court’s decision

Majority Opinion: Justices Anthony Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, David Souter, John Paul Stevens, and Stephen Breyer

Dissenting Opinion: Chief Justice John Roberts, Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito