Court rejects Bush request
In what amounts to a sharp rebuke of the Bush administration, a U.S. appeals court has rejected a request to transfer Jose Padilla, the accused terrorist who has been held for three years as an "enemy combatant," from military custody to face charges in a civilian court, the International Herald Tribune reported from Washington.
Last month, the panel issued a brief order suggesting it might withdraw an earlier opinion that gave Bush sweeping powers to detain Padilla, an American, indefinitely without trial. But the administration then shifted course and said it would no longer hold Padilla as an enemy combatant but try him on criminal charges in a civilian court.
On Wednesday, the appeals panel said that the Justice Department's effort to transfer Padilla gave the appearance that the government was trying to manipulate the court system to prevent the Supreme Court from reviewing the case.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/12/22/news/policy.phpThe Padilla case differs from the one cited by Attorney General Gonzales as he defended Bush's wiretapping without a warrant in that Hamdi, the subject of the Supreme Court's reasoning in allowing Bush detention authority, was captured on the battlefield in Afghanistan. But the fact that both Padilla and Hamdi are Americans underscores the refusal of Bush to afford these U.S. citizens the habeas corpus rights that should be inherent in their citizenship.
Gonzales, in his defense of Bush's warrantless surveillance over the past few days, has cited the Authorization for Use of Military Force as the basis for Bush's authority to bypass the law. Gonzales went on to suggest that the AUMF give Bush the power to do just about anything, lawful or not, so long as he insists that the target or subject of his action was a threat related to his 'war on terror'.
If this panel does eventually get to decide on the continued detention, and goes ahead as they have indicated they would and release Padilla, it will punch a big hole in Bush's monarchy. Not that Bush wouldn't appeal and advantage himself of a friendly court, but I think this panel is a loose thread in the garment that Gonzales has dressed Bush in.