USA Watch

The Court and Guantánamo

Today's New York Times condemns the administration's attempt to deny basic due process rights to Guantanamo Bay prisoners.

"Legal arguments aside, the Guantánamo policies are a tragic mistake. They are being followed closely abroad, where they are greatly harming America's reputation for fairness. And — as a group of retired American military officers argue in a friend-of-the-court brief — they will come back to haunt us when Americans are taken captive.

Most important of all, the treatment of the Guantánamo detainees is not true to America's guiding principles. "The practice of arbitrary imprisonments," Alexander Hamilton observed in Federalist No. 84, has been "in all ages" one of "the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny." Much has changed since Sept. 11, 2001, but one thing that has not is this nation's commitment to freedom, and to the rule of law. "

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