AlterNet: If We Lose the Constitution, Who Wins Then?: "What Bush has done is the most radical destruction of civil rights this country has seen. George W. Bush, without consulting with the courts or congress, decides who is an enemy combatant. Currently two U.S. citizens, Jose Padilla and Yasir Hamdi, are being held indefinitely on military brigs, without charges or access to lawyers. This has never happened before.
The issue of enemy combatants is currently before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York. The most remarkable brief on the constitution that I have ever seen was recently sent to the Second Circuit. It was signed by judges and lawyers from all political backgrounds – Republicans, Democrats, Conservatives, and Libertarians – and it said that Bush is turning the rule of law on its head. This will likely go to the Supreme Court, and if he upholds Bush, it means the President can take any citizen off the streets of America and hold them indefinitely. In effect, anyone could be picked up and disappear.
...U.S. attorney James Comey has said it explicitly and bluntly in referring to the President as Commander-and-Chief: "A court of the United States has no jurisdiction ... to enjoin the President in the performance of his official duties." "
- posted by geoff @ #