Five to be released from Guantanamo

According to an article in the Washington Times, a federal judge has ordered five detainees at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility released. One of the men is Lakhdar Boumediende. Boumediende was the plaintiff in a landmark Supreme Court decision in June granting the Guantanamo detainees the right of habeus corpus. Boumediende's case was kicked back down to the lower court where U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, a Bush appointee, order him, along with four other detainees, released. The Justice Department says it will appeal.


If memory serves me, this makes the Busadministration something like oh-for-three on these illegal enemy combatant cases. There is no doubt that 0-3 would land a baseball player back on the bench. I'm not sure what it does for the Justice Department. I'm sure all the Bush bashers, leftover '60s protesters and left wingnuts will look at this as vindication of their hatred of the 43rd president. But save your celebrations for January 20.


For me it points out the stubborness and wrongheadedness of Democrats in Congress for thwarting the President's judicial nominations for much of the last eight years. During this Judicial reign of terror court appointments have gone unfilled and the business of justice delayed while Democrats paid back all of their left-leaning supporters--the pro-choice lobby, the education commisariat, the environmental madarins, and all those consumed by some irrational fear of conservatism.


But the Boumediende decision by the Roberts Court and today's decision show that the rule of law trumps everything else. It's a pity that Democrat senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee like Vice President-elect Joe Biden and Ted Kennedy never had enough faith in that principle or independence from special interests, to resist handicapping our federal court system for the last 7 years.

Just thought you might like to know.