Congrats to the Supreme Court for their ruling today for their ruling that Guantanamo Bay detainees being held violate the Geneva Convention. By the way this is also a blow for the domestic spying program.
I realize that Bush is going to say F-U as he always does and ignore the ruling but this is a step in the right direction. FOr a detailed link of the opinions of the Supreme Court go to rawstory.com.
The big suprise was Chief Justice John Roberts joined the majority. Not suprisingly Clearence Thomas, Antion Scalia and Samuel Alieto (not a typo) joined the minority.
A couple of updates:
The main opinion [was] written by Justice John Paul Stevens. That opinion was supported in full by Justices Stephen G. Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David H. Souter. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote separately, in an opinion partly joined by Justices Breyer, Ginsburg and Souter…Justices Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, the dissenters, each wrote an opinion.
The Court appears to have held that Common Article 3 of Geneva aplies to the conflict against Al Qaeda. That is the HUGE part of today’s ruling. The commissions are the least of it. This basically resolves the debate about interrogation techniques, because Common Article 3 provides that detained persons ’shall in all circumstances be treated humanely,’ and that ‘[t]o this end,’ certain specified acts ‘are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever’—including ‘cruel treatment and torture,’ and ‘outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment.’ This standard, not limited to the restrictions of the due process clause, is much more restrictive than even the McCain Amendment. … This almost certainly means that the CIA’s interrogation regime is unlawful.
PDF files of the opinions can also be found at thinkprogress.org
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