Lear's Fool

Lear's fool chided the king, "Thou shouldst not have been old, till thou hadst been wise."
As we close on 40, our aim is to prod wisdom to catch up with age. We leave it to the reader to judge our success.

Monday, July 03, 2006

On Hamdan v. Rumsfeld

This case is an outrage. Here is what I wrote to my representatives:

Dear Senator,

How will you respond to the Supreme Court's unconstitutional disobedience of the law in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld?

The Constitution clearly grants Congress the authority to make "exceptions" and "regulations" governing the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and inferior federal courts. And with the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, Congress did exactly that.

Now the Court, in defiance of Congress and violation of the law, has proceeded to rule on a case outside their jurisdiction.

I elected you to govern on my behalf. It is your duty to defend the Constitution and maintain the separation of powers outlined therein.

In addition to issuing a "Sense of the Senate" measure condemning the Court's crime and restoring the verdict of the U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C., Congress should begin impeachment hearings for all justices who violated the "good behavior" clause of Article III, Section 2 of our nation's Constitution.

Thank you.



In his dissent, Justice Scalia argues that

(I)t is clear that this Court lacks jurisdiction to entertain petitioner’s claims.

Justice Thomas agrees:

For the reasons set out in Justice Scalia's dissent, which I join, I would hold that we lack jurisdiction.

Justice Alito:

(The Court majority's) conclusion (regarding jurisdiction) is patently erroneous. And even if it were not, the jurisdiction supposedly retained should, in an exercise of sound equitable discretion, not be exercised.

You would think these three law-abiding, Constitution-respecting justices would have had little more to say on this case. But no, they see fit to give us the benefit of their reasoning on Hamdan v. Rumsfeld - a case which has already been decided by the court which is supreme on this matter: the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

Who cares what the eight justices on the Court have to say on the case? After they recognize they have no jurisdiction, any opinions they offer are nothing but tardy amicus briefs.