Constitution Restoration

By Trevor Timm

Don’t look now, but we may be getting our democracy back. After six years of George W. Bush hypocritically pillaging the Constitution, while at the same time force feeding “democracy” by the barrel of the gun to the rest of the world, the Congress and the Judicial System are finally starting to stake their claim as two of the three co-equal branches of government.

The Senate finally came to their senses a few days ago and restored Habeas Corpus, or the right to challenge one’s imprisonment in court. I wrote about this a year ago when Bush first suspended it for only the second time in American history. The other time, of course, was the Civil War. Now the Constitution says you can only suspend Habeas Corpus in times of “invasion or rebellion,” so it might have been justified for Lincoln. ot so much Bush, though. Presidential Candidate and Senator from Connecticut Chris Dodd has been on the forefront of this issue and should be getting more credit than he has been, which is none.

This came on the heals of a military judge throwing throwing out the case of a Canadian citizen how has been held at the Guantanamo Bay Prison since he was 15. The ruling led to questions as to whether or not any of the 370 inmates will be able to go to trial because of the strict rules of Bush’s decision to label the inmates “enemy combatants” instead of “unlawful enemy combatants” which is what the US Military Commissions Act explicitly states.

Chris Dodd, again, said it best: “The current system of prosecuting enemy combatants is not only inefficient and ineffective, it is also hurting America’s moral standing in the world and corroding the foundation of freedom upon which our nation was built”

In another blow to the Bush administration, that seems to be coming in three punch combinations these days, the Senate will hold a rare No Confidence vote on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Gonzales, already rendered useless because of his decision to fire US Attorneys for purely political reasons, and then made to look like an incompetent fool during his Congressional hearings on the issue, has stubbornly refused to step down even as both Republicans and Democrats call for his ouster.

And finally, earlier this week:

The federal appeals court in New York on Monday tossed out a key FCC indecency ruling that said a slip of the tongue gets broadcasters a fine for indecency, telling the commission that it failed to give a good reason for its decision and couldn’t likely find a good reason if it had to.
“We find the FCC’s new policy sanctioning ‘fleeting expletives’ is arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedures Act for failing to articulate a reasoned basis for its change in policy,” the court wrote in a 2-1 opinion.

This court ruling is victory to free speech advocates as well as all people who hate watching intensely dramatic movies on television when at the climax as the arch villian screams “FUCK!!!” while getting shot, all you hear is “FUDGE!!!” or “FOOL!!!,” rendering the movie a joke.

Trevor Timm is a Blast Magazine staff writer

In Politics Jun 8th, 2007 | No Discussion |