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September 28, 2006
And That's the Game
A few days ago I posted about some Dworkin articles I was reading about Supreme Court decisions regarding prisoner's rights in the war on terror, specifically about indefinite detention and the government's ability to try these people in special tribunals. If anyone's been following along, they'll be aware that today the Senate passed the New Detainee Treatment Bill, otherwise known as the Military Commissions Act of 2006. This is essentially the compromise ending the saga of Hamden v. Rumsfeld, and the upshot is a number of definitions of cruel treatment and torture, and this little gem from section 8 (a):
(3) INTERPRETATION BY THE PRESIDENT- (A) As provided by the Constitution and by this section, the President has the authority for the United States to interpret the meaning and application of the Geneva Conventions and to promulgate higher standards and administrative regulations for violations of treaty obligations which are not grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions.
This more or less grants the president the authority to do what he's been doing for 5 years anyway. Here's the voting record of the Senate, if anyone's interested.
Posted by tony at September 28, 2006 11:15 PM
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