Reading notes

Another big, hopeful “Thank God!” from me on today’s Supreme Court decisions (and elsewhere).

As quoted by Marty, Justice Stevens writes in Padilla —

At stake in this case is nothing less than the essence of a free society. Even more important than the method of selecting the people’s rulers and their successors is the character of the constraints imposed on the Executive by the rule of law. Unconstrained Executive detention for the purpose of investigating and preventing subversive activity is the hallmark of the Star Chamber. Access to counsel for the purpose of protecting the citizen from official mistakes and mistreatment is the hallmark of due process. … If this Nation is to remain true to the ideals symbolized by its flag, it must not wield the tools of tyrants even to resist an assault by the forces of tyranny.

Is this not a brilliant understanding of the situation? Yes. Thank you, Justice Stevens.

And thanks, Marty, for shedding knowledgeable light on these decisions’ implications.

A little later, I see that Lyle Denniston, also writing at SCOTUSBlog, says —

Amid all the writing by the Justices in today’s three historic rulings, no sentence stands out as vividly as this one, “A state of war is not a blank check for the President when it comes to the rights of the Nation’s citizens.”

Hope abides. Of course, OTOH, IANAL, so it may abideth somewhat less vigorously than my first-glance enthusiasm purports.

[via Atrios and Daily Kos]