Can we get him to change places with Joe Leiberman?
US Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), outgoing chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and current ranking member of the committee Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) have introduced a bill which would restore habeas corpus rights to military detainees and amend the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA). A key provision in the MCA, which President Bush signed into law last month, strips US courts of jurisdiction to consider writs of habeas corpus filed by detainees classified as enemy combatants.
Great idea, Specter. Give U.S. Constitutional Rights to people caught fighting against us on the battlefields of Afghanistan, wearing no uniform, answering to no country. Here's a clue: they aren't American citizens!
You would expect this from the Defeatocrats, as Leahy's comments make clear, not a Republican. Consider that Leahy understands who these people are
The Justice Department, in a brief to dismiss a detainee’s habeas case, said that the Military Commissions Act allows the Government to detain any non-citizen declared to be an enemy combatant without giving that person any ability to challenge his detention in court. This is true, the Justice Department said, even for someone arrested and imprisoned in the United States. The Washington Post wrote that the brief “raises the possibility that any of the millions of immigrants living in the United States could be subject to indefinite detention if they are accused of ties to terrorist groups.”
Got that? "Non-citizens." Let's give them American civil rights, shall we?
