subscribe  |    email  |    print  |    continue the debate

To the Supreme Court, for its decision that gives foreign suspects in Guantanamo Bay the right to challenge their detentions in U.S. civilian courts. The June ruling was the third time the Supreme Court has upheld the habeas corpus privileges of the detainees, but each time White House lawyers have scrambled to bypass the decisions by creating new laws. So just when the detainees might get their day in court remains uncertain. But Justice Anthony Kennedy made it clear that the war on terrorism is not cause for exemption. “The laws and constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times,” he said. Those who have broken U.S. laws and threatened American security should be prosecuted swiftly, fairly and under the full glare of public scrutiny. Preventing these important trials is unfair to the detainees; more critically, it’s also unfair to the American public and to the U.S. judicial system.