Sen. Lindsay Graham has been irksome of late, but the amendment he sponsored to rein in the ridiculous panoply of legal rights granted to foreign enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay is a welcome dose of sanity. The Senate approved the amendment to a military budget bill, 49-42, last night:

If approved in its current form by both the Senate and the House, which has not yet considered the measure but where passage is considered likely, the law would nullify a June 2004 Supreme Court opinion that detainees at Guantánamo Bay had a right to challenge their detentions in court.

Nearly 200 of roughly 500 detainees there have already filed habeas corpus motions, which are making their way up through the federal court system. As written, the amendment would void any suits pending at the time the law was passed.

Take special note of these wayward Republicans and surprisingly reality-grounded Democrats and their votes on the measure:

In addition to [Sen. Arlen] Specter, Republicans voting against the bill were Senators John E. Sununu of New Hampshire, Gordon H. Smith of Oregon, and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island. The five Democrats voting for the bill were Senators Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Kent Conrad of North Dakota and Ron Wyden of Oregon.

***
Previous/related:

John Kerry wants to make Osama the next O.J.
The Federalist Society: The Laws of War

comments (0)   trackbacks (8)