Jose Padilla and the Death of Liberty

My heart despairs for the future of the liberal democracy I thought possible at hearing that 3 judges have declared that the President can declare an American citizen an enemy combatant and thereby not covered by traditional American rights of habeus corpus, and due process.

Read this and weep. Read this and write letters to the newspaper declaring that when Bush has elected, we did not elect him supreme ruler over all.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10223.htm

I had to sit down when I heard the Padilla case had been settled. I literally felt sick to my stomach, like I was gasping for air. The case of Jose Padilla is quite simply the most important case in the history of the American judicial system. Hanging in the balance are all the fundamental principles of American jurisprudence including habeas corpus, due process and "the presumption of innocence". All of those basic concepts were summarily revoked by the 3 judge panel of the 4th Circuit Court.

The Court ruled in favor of the Bush administration which claimed that it had the right to indefinitely imprison an American citizen without charging him with a crime. The resulting verdict confers absolute authority on the President to incarcerate American citizens without charge and without any legal means for the accused to challenge the terms of his detention. It is the end of "inalienable rights", the end of The Bill of Rights, and the end of any meaningful notion of personal liberty.