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September 23, 2006
Can anyone say "human rights violations"?
My TAship has me reading Dworkin pieces in the NYRB this weekend, including "What the Court Really Said," about decisions on the status of Guantanamo Bay prisoners and other "unlawful combatants". Like everyone Dworkin writes, it sounds very reasonable (which may be because it is, in fact, reasonable, but I'm hesitant to apply this to Dworkin's views across the board). Anyway, if you have even the least interest in how the precedent regarding the legal rights of those subject to indefinite detention, you can't do much better than Dworkin's summaries (albeit he makes it quite clear what his opinions are). The listing of his other pieces has nothing specific to Hamden v. Rumsfeld, but hopefully he'll offer something up before too long. But check this out, even though you can probably guess what the upshot will be: if we're going to throw people in jail and even pretend we're trying them for some sort of crime, we have to decide on some standard or another (either prisoner's of war or criminal trial) and treat them like, oh I don't know, humans or something?
Posted by tony at September 23, 2006 9:37 PM
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