Constitutional Law with Barack Obama

[StitchInTime]

<p><a href=“%5Burl=http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1060818424-post9.html]#9[/url]”>quote</a> Let’s compare Obama’s best known statement on the writ of habeas corpus with McCain’s…And you’re getting snarky over Obama’s understanding of US history and constitutional law?

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<p>If snarky is pointing out the facts, then I’m guilty as charged.</p>

<p>And those facts speak for themselves that Senator Obama’s rhetoric was historically inaccurate at best and misleading at worst. Obama’s response in the interview asserted, without qualification, that:

“…for the first time that it is permisible for this adminstration or the military to capture people and not give them that basic hearing in court…”

when clearly in our history we had a challenge of such magnitude that [President</a> Lincoln did exactly we he claims the Military Commission Act would do](<a href=“http://www.civil-liberties.com/pages/did_lincoln.htm]President”>American Patriot Network), in his own words, “for the first time”. Now, either [“words</a> matter”](<a href=“http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS127486+12-Jun-2008+PRN20080612]"words”>http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS127486+12-Jun-2008+PRN20080612), or they don’t!</p>

<p>Furthermore, Senator McCain had much more to say on the Militiary Commission Act, Habeas and Judicial Review. He, along with Senator Warner and Graham, wrote an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal entitled ‘Look Past the Tortured Distortions’:</p>

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Look Past the Tortured Distortions
By John W. Warner, John McCain and Linsdey O. Graham, Wall Street Journal
October 2, 2006</p>

<p>Negotiating a complicated piece of legislation with wide-ranging implications is always a difficult endeavor, and the Military Commissions Act of 2006 was no exception. We worked with the administration to achieve a fair system for the prosecution and conviction of suspected terrorists. The proposed legislation also reaffirms and underscores our nation’s commitment to the Geneva Conventions, which we must uphold as a matter of principle and to protect our service members in this and future wars. We believe that we have succeeded in this effort…</p>

<p>…Habeas Corpus : Another myth is that, under our bill, detainees would lose the basic right to challenge their imprisonment. Actually, both the Detainee Treatment Act and the Military Commissions Act allow an individual to challenge his status in administrative and judicial fora. These challenges are in excess of what our soldiers would be afforded as prisoners of war.</p>

<p>Judicial Review : Other critics claim that our civilian courts would have no power to review any aspect of the military tribunal system, except verdicts by military tribunals. The truth is that our federal courts today already have the right to review the decisions made by military Combatant Status Review Tribunals…

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