Any lawyer worth his boot-straps knew that the establishment of the military tribunals by the Bush administration were not legal. Messrs Ruddock [our appalling A-G] and Gonzales [now US A-G but formerly legal adviser to Bush] seem to be have been the exception! Now, the US Supreme Court - hardly a band of radicals or liberals - have dealt a critical blow to what Bush and Co. thought they could get away with - military tribunals, in effect, without any requirements to abide by the law and the US able to effectively "ignore"the Geneva Convention.
This is how the NY Times reported the decision:
"The decision was such a sweeping and categorical defeat for the administration that it left human rights lawyers who have pressed this and other cases on behalf of Guantánamo detainees almost speechless with surprise and delight, using words like "fantastic," "amazing" and "remarkable."
Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, a public interest law firm in New York that represents hundreds of detainees, said, "It doesn't get any better."
Read the full NY Times report here. Meanwhile, how this will play out for David Hicks remains to be seen.
"The decision was such a sweeping and categorical defeat for the administration that it left human rights lawyers who have pressed this and other cases on behalf of Guantánamo detainees almost speechless with surprise and delight, using words like "fantastic," "amazing" and "remarkable."
Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, a public interest law firm in New York that represents hundreds of detainees, said, "It doesn't get any better."
Read the full NY Times report here. Meanwhile, how this will play out for David Hicks remains to be seen.
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