One of the first posts I wrote on this blog was about the importance of the Boumediene decision. Following the Supreme Court’s direction, a Federal judge overruled the Bush administration’s detention of 17 Chinese Muslims, known as Uighurs, ordering their release from Guantanamo.
The Uighurs are trained terrorists, and are not welcome in China. The Bush administration hasn’t found anyone to take them. Nonetheless, DC Judge Ricardo Urbina has required that these detainees be released into the United States. Andy McCarthy has commented on this, and I recommend his book Willful Blindness for important insight into the difficulties of treating terrorists like criminals within our judicial system. McCarthy also notes that a New York federal appeals court recently overturned a terrorist conviction because the evidence of terrorism was deemed prejudiced. McCarthy summarizes:
A year ago, the prosecutor on that case, Kelly Anne Moore penned an op-ed in the New York Times entitled, “Take al Qaeda to Court.” Highlighting her case as Exhibit A, Kelly (a friend with whom I deeply disagree on this subject) argued that the criminal justice system is the ideal way to combat Islamic terrorism.
That’s Sen. Barack Obama’s position, too: Go back to September 10th and let the federal courts handle it. Now, Sen. John McCain has been given on a silver platter perfect examples of where that will lead us. Let’s hope he takes the opportunity.
Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of UC Irvine’s new School of Law, wrote an op-ed in the L.A. Times today describing the importance of this year’s election for the selection of judges. Chemerinsky talks about competing ideologies important to both the right and left in the context of issues like abortion, affirmative action, and the rights of detained prisoners. He urges the candidates to emphasize their positions as they affect the courts. I hope both Obama and McCain are listening, and that people recognize the dangers of these recent decisions brought upon by the Boumediene precedent that Obama supports.
