Supreme Gitmo ruling

A nail in the coffin, slap in the face, a rude awakening for the Bush administration? I don't think so.

For the lefties, could it be cause for celebration, nah.

The Supreme Court's ruling in a 5-3 vote essentially said that President Bush must provide enemy combatants or terrorists, the ones belonging to no uniformed army, with Geneva protections.

From MSNBC:

In a far-reaching decision that has implications for all 450 prisoners at the US detention centre in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the court ruled 5-3 that the military trial of Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a former driver for Osama bin Laden, was illegal because he was not given basic legal rights such as hearing all the evidence.

... The decision was also a major setback for administration arguments that its powers to prosecute the "war on terror" should be unfettered.

However, while the court rejected the current structure of the Guantanamo military commissions, it said the administration could work with Congress to establish military tribunals that would adhere to US law and the Geneva conventions.

Despite my low opinion of the Supreme Court's intellectual integrity, I think they accidentally did a good thing. I haven't read the actual statement from Justice Stephens, nor the dissenting from Scalia, but I don't agree with the decision, nor the known reasoning.

But this is a good thing for the President. This ruling just forced the executive branch to work more closely with the legislative, forging necessary cooperation under the stress of a war on terror. I think most congressmen respect the presidential powers of war, and the procedures of enemy prosecution wouldn't be an extreme change. The President's detention and prosecution of terrorists will now be much much more immune from consequential criticisms. Less fodder for the moonbats and international statist thugs.

I do think the fear that many terrorists will be freed upon implementation of their newly acquired rights is largely unfounded. It may be premature, but the Supreme Court's overstep will have largely a good outcome in my opinion.