A Spork in the Drawer

Why Voting For Obama Matters

I've had a chance to sit down and read Scalia's dissent (*.pdf) in today's Boumediene decision and it's a doozy:

America is at war with radical Islamists. The enemy began by killing Americans and American allies abroad: 241 at the Marine barracks in Lebanon, 19 at the Khobar Towers in Dhahran, 224 at our embassies in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi, and 17 on the USS Cole in Yemen. See National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, The 9/11 Commission Report, pp. 60–61, 70, 190 (2004). On September 11, 2001, the enemy brought the battle to American soil, killing 2,749 at the Twin Towers in New York City, 184 at the Pentagon in Washington, D. C., and 40 in Pennsylvania. See id., at 552, n. 9. It has threatened further attacks against our homeland; one need only walk about buttressed and barricaded Washington, or board a plane anywhere in the country, to know that the threat is a serious one. Our Armed Forces are now in the field against the enemy, in Afghanistan and Iraq. Last week, 13 of our countrymen in arms were killed.

Notice the conflation, once again, of 9/11 with Iraq.

But more importantly, let's look at this:

On the issue of appointments to the Supreme Court, McCain mentioned that Sam Brownback would play an advisory role in helping decide who he should nominate for the Supreme Court. As models of who he would select, John McCain pointed to Justices Samuel Alito and Antonin Scalia.

Also note that Scalia believes that the Constitution allows for criminal suspects - American citizens here in the US - to be tortured.

Now, look again at today's decision: 5-4. Of those five in the majority at least one and possibly three (Stevens, Ginsburg, and Souter) are likely to die or retire in the next four years.

One vote on the court is all that it will take for rightwing extremists to control that body for at least a generation.

Remember that on Election Day.

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A Surprise

By a 5-4 decision the Supremes get one right:

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that foreign terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay have rights under the Constitution to challenge their detention in U.S. civilian courts.

In its third rebuke of the Bush administration's treatment of prisoners, the court ruled 5-4 that the government is violating the rights of prisoners being held indefinitely and without charges at the U.S. naval base in Cuba. The court's liberal justices were in the majority.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the court, said, "The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times."

Expect to hear the phrase "the Constitution is not a suicide pact" a lot over the next few days. Indeed, we have Fat Tony:

Scalia said the nation is "at war with radical Islamists" and that the court's decision "will make the war harder on us. It will almost certainly cause more Americans to be killed."

Yes, if we just do away with that pesty Constitution all would be fine.

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I [Heart] Dahlia Lithwick

That's nothing new. What is new is that she's gone and written a short comedy film:

Antonin "Vaffanculo" Scalia? Who knew?

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