News and Opinion for Democrats Against Bush -- Part II

Bush Deprives American Citizens of All Rights

"Of all the post-Sept. 11 denials of civil liberties, the enemy combatant doctrine is among the worst. It gives the president untrammeled authority to lock up Americans merely by asserting that they are part of a terrorist plot."

New York Times November 19, 2003

'Enemy Combatant' Sham

The complete article is currently (4/3/04) available on the New York Times website at-- http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/19/opinion/19WED3.html?ex=1081141200&en=6b8f9d7db8e09b35&ei=5070 [found through a Google search by article title on the above date]

Opening words--

The Bush administration insists that it can hold American citizens in secret as long as it wants, without access to lawyers, simply by calling them "enemy combatants." A New York federal appeals court heard a challenge to that policy this week by the so-called dirty bomber, Jose Padilla. The administration's position makes a mockery of the Constitution and puts every American's liberty at risk. It is important that the court strike it down, and give Mr. Padilla the rights he has been denied. ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/19/opinion/19WED3.html?tntemail1

Boston Globe

Undermining due process

By Joan A. Lukey, 3/28/2004

The complete article is currently ((4/3/04) available on the Boston Globe website at-- http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/03/28/undermining_due_process/ [found through a Google search by article title on the date above]

Excerpt--

... Padilla is a US citizen arrested on US soil almost two years ago and declared by President Bush to be an "enemy combatant." Although no charges have been filed, Padilla has remained in a military brig, largely incommunicado.

The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit declared in December that the president lacks the inherent authority to detain a citizen in this fashion, thereby leading to an appeal to be heard by the Supreme Court in April. The notion of incarcerating a US citizen for a prolonged period, without filing charges, runs so counter to well-established constitutional rights as to be almost unimaginable. ....

If the entire United States is the battlefield for purposes of the war on terror, every citizen is now subject to the same threat of arrest and incarceration. In denying our federal judges the opportunity to serve in precisely the role that the Constitution intended, the Department of Justice and the president are not merely affecting the rights of a single individual, who may prove to be the scum of the earth. Rather, they are undermining every citizen's rights in the process. Rights that are denied to Padilla today may be denied to you or me or our children tomorrow. ...

Joan A. Lukey, a past president of the Boston Bar Association, is a senior partner at Hale and Dorr LLP in Boston.

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