I enjoy the moments where I appreciate that I went to law school; for instance, I can watch the Lehrer newshour talk about the Supreme Court decisions on the enemy combatant cases and actually understand what the talking heads are saying. Ooh.
Anyway, good read on the Supreme Court cases in the continuing dialogue between Lithwick and Dellinger on Slate.com. Their discussion on the enemy combatant cases are links 6, 7, and 8; loved how Lithwick tells Dellinger:
I have loads of questions for you, like what to make of the fact that the court decided Hamdi [the American-born enemy combatant who was caught in Afghanistan when the U.S. armed forces were getting rid of the Taliban] but punted on Padilla [the one who allegedly planned a dirty bomb]? (And does the decision in Hamdi mean that Padilla will necessarily have his day in court, so long as he files his next habeas petition in the right one?) I felt strongly at oral argument that the court was much less sympathetic to Padilla than Hamdi—that at least some of the justices appeared more worried about tying the president’s hands when an alleged “dirty bomber” (or as Breyer said, a “ticking time bomb”) was the bad guy, as opposed to some punk kid who may have been fighting for the Taliban.
Uh hmm. The justices may very well be only human in perceiving the differences between an alleged “punk kid” and an alleged “dirty bomber.” Maybe. 😉
An interesting story on the Statue of Liberty on NY1.com, for this week’s “One on One,” in honor of the upcoming 4th of July holiday.
The Yankees went ahead and used their bats on the Mets yesterday, beating them in both games of the doubleheader. Beaten them soundly. Met fans should at least take comfort that pitcher Al Leiter made it through seven innings and won on Saturday. There’s some hope in Metsville (but, seriously, wasn’t it expected that the interleague series was going to be 2 games to 1 one in the Yanks’ favor?).
Anyway, let’s thank the Supreme Court for making today an interesting day; rule of law prevails. Lady Liberty can continue to hold up her head and her torch real high.