Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Sometimes I love George Will

George Will, a very smart, conservative columnist with whom I usually disagree, has written a good piece on McCain's reaction to the Supreme Court's recent decision in Boumedienne. In that decision, the Supreme Court ruled that detainees at Guantanamo are entitled to seek habeas corpus review (basically, to ask the government to either release them or show, through fair legal processes, why they should be kept in prison).

McCain says this is "one of the worst decisions in the history of this country." George Will points out, among other things, that

(1) there have been many decisions far worse, so stop being ridiculous.

(2) this decision DOES NOT LET ANYONE OUT OF PRISON, so stop being ridiculous.

(3) if you're supposed to be a conservative, maybe you should have a little more respect for a right that has been at the heart of the centuries-long struggle to constrain governments.


Read it.

3 comments:

CV said...

that is one of the reasons that i love some of these recent supreme court decisions. if you can pit a firmly held political dogma against another firmly held political dogma and see which wins, you can see the order and priority that those holding those dogmas place on each.

Leo said...

Don't fall for it. He's only sounding sane now so that has credibility when he says something totally crazy next week.

Mag said...
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