Andrew Sullivan, who has been a strident opponent of torture of War on Terror detainees, has this to say about the Hamdan decision
The ruling clearly states that the interrogation methods currently authorized by Rumsfeld and the CIA are unlawful. There’s also a warning against the over-broad executive interpretation of Congress’s Authorization for the Use of Military Force - which implicates the NSA program. Big news, methinks. The Founders have not been disproved. This constitutional system works, even in wartime, and even under an administration with demonstrable contempt for the rule of law.
I don’t necessarily agree with Sullivan’s criticism of the Bush Administration’s methods in the War on Terror; however, if this decision results in limitation on untrammeled, unchallenged Executive Branch power that answers to nobody, then I think it is, on the whole, a good thing.
Previous Posts:
Military Tribunals Unconstitutional
Hamdan And The War On Terror
