My joy from Judge Hall's decision was short lived. Soon after reading about it I came across the decision by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals stating that the U.S. could continue to hold Jose Padilla, an American Citizen, on ACCUSATIONS that he planned to detonate a 'dirty bomb' within the United States.
I am all for arresting terrorist and I am definitely for protecting our country, but if this guy truly is a threat and the U.S. Government truly believes he had intentions of terrorist attacks then CHARGE HIM AND GIVE HIM A TRIAL!
I am not saying that he should definitely be let go, but I am saying that as and American Citizen he has the right to a trial in front of his peers has guaranteed by the 6th amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Let them then decide if he belongs in jail.
This decision goes far beyond the rights of Padilla however, it effects all of our rights. This will set a standard that says that the government, and particularly the President can accuse anyone of being a threat to National Security and have them arrested and held indefinitely without any shred of proof. It is stated best by Padilla's lawyer:
"It's a matter of how paranoid you are," Andrew Patel said. "What it could mean is that the president conceivably could sign a piece of paper when he has hearsay information that somebody has done something he doesn't like and send them to jail - without a hearing (or) a trial."
The right to a criminal trial is a fundamental right and under no circumstances should it be removed. It is the core difference between our legal system and that of tyrants. The ACLU is actually standing up on this one saying:
"So long as the civilian courts are open and functioning, American citizens arrested in the United States are entitled to due process protections provided by a traditional criminal trial," ACLU Legal Director Steven Shapiro said in a statement.
I truly hope that they continue to fight this all the way to the Supreme Court, but it may not make a difference as one of the Judges on the panel of three is a possible choice for Supreme Court. How he could continue to be after clearly disregarding the Constitutional right to a trial is beyond me.
This almost makes me wish I had not already given the Civil Liberties Crown to Judge Hall, because I think that the panel of Judges here are more deserving of the Civil Liberities Dunce Hat.
UPDATE: It has been three days since this story broke and I have yet to see or hear any major discussion on this. It is an outrage.
3 comments:
It is really quite scary when you think about it. With the current makeup in Congress and now the Court Bush has complete control, and he is abusing it.
I know that there are going to be those that say that he is just attempting to protect the country but you have to ask yourself, where does it stop. When do we as Americans finally stand up and say enough is enough, this is America and we will not stand for our freedoms being trampled upon. I thought it would happen with the Patriot Act, it didn't. Then I thought maybe the tortures at Gitmo would wake people up, I was wrong. I am hoping once again that maybe people will finally take notice, but considering I found this story at the bottom of the SJ-R as a small link I am not holding my breath. Everytime somebody tryies to say something the far right comes back with the old "your unpatriotic and don't care about the safety of your country" bs. It was said best by Ben Franklin when he said:
"The man who gives up freedom for security deserves niether."
It is time we take heed and quit giving up our freedoms for a FALSE sense of security.
I guess the Bush administration either doesn't have the balls or the brains to put together a winning case. But then again, what do you expect from the man who said, "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."?
RANDALL SHERMAN
Secretary/Treasurer, Illinois Committee for Honest Government
Chicago
RS,
Great point, I guess we should have figured out by now not to expect to much.
What scares me more however is that there has not been much of a public outcry over this or any of the other major civil liberty violations made by this administration. It is almost as if the public has become lax on loosing their freedoms.
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