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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2009
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 ANALYSIS 
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Bush Forced Ruling on Detainees

High court had to act after Bush flouted justice and liberty

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(Newser) – President Bush forced the Supreme Court’s hand by overplaying his own over Guantanamo detainees, Stuart Taylor, Jr. writes in Newsweek. Courts usually defer to Washington on national security, but Bush so flouted ordinary "ideas of justice and liberty" that he "put the Supreme Court in an impossible position." Stuck with detainees who say they are innocent, justices have granted them full access to federal courts.

Now the court has created "a new set of problems by making rules on a slow, messy, case-by-case basis. The only clear outcome is the certainty of enduring confusion: by trying to sidestep the most basic legal protections for detainees at the outset, the Bush administration guaranteed years of legal wrangling.”

In the wake of the court's decision, pressure will grow on the Bush administration to close down Guantánamo and release its 270 detainees.
In the wake of the court's decision, pressure will grow on the Bush administration to close down Guantánamo and release its 270 detainees.   (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
A detainee, center, is escorted by U.S. military personnel at the detention facility on Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base in Cuba.
A detainee, center, is escorted by U.S. military personnel at the detention facility on Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base in Cuba.   (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File)
In front of a sign that says
In front of a sign that says "Close Guantanamo," demonstrators kneel in black hoods and orange jumpsuits, holding the names of prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay .   (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy declared,
Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy declared, "The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times."   (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
President George W. Bush forced the Supreme Court to act, Stuart Taylor, Jr. writes in Newsweek.
President George W. Bush forced the Supreme Court to act, Stuart Taylor, Jr. writes in Newsweek.   (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
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