How reassuring to hear what presidential contender John McCain thinks of our system of checks and balances. McCain attacked the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court preserving the writ (or as I pronounce it, right) of habeas corpus for detainees at Guantánamo Bay over the populist pandering of Congress and arrogating machinations of the all-powerful Unitary Executive.
NPR quotes McCain as saying that the law that he helped write “made it very clear that these are enemy combatants, they are not citizens, they do not have the rights of citizens”, oblivious to the fact that it is the very status of “enemy combatant” at issue, and whether the defendents have a right to dispute this allegation in a non-kangaroo court.
Not to be outdone in the inanity, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., went even further:
What happened yesterday was unprecedented. Americans are going to be shocked to find that that mastermind of 9-11, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, now has the same legal standing as an American citizen.
And the omniscient Senator knows this...how? Last I checked, the question of whether Mr. Mohammed is in fact a “mastermind of 9-11”, or an American citizen for that matter, is one of those vexing questions that are decided in this country by jury trials, not Senators or Presidential wannabes.
Or did someone go and amend the Constitution when I wasn't looking...
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