Supreme Court Rules Against Bush Administration, Resurrects Habeas Corpus

In what might be the most important decision made by the Supreme Court of the United States during the Bush Administration, five justices ruled in Boumedienne v. Bush on Thursday, June 12, that the United States government did not have the right to suspend habeas corpus, or legal due process.

The government effectively did this through the passage of the Military Commissions Act of 2006, a legal measure meant to bolster an original executive order signed shortly after September 11, 2001, that gave federal authorities the power to detain suspected enemy operatives indefinitely without recourse to legal process and a trial. The Military Commissions Act of 2006, the passage of which was led by Sen. John McCain, specifically denied Guantanamo detainees the right to petition federal courts on grounds of habeas corpus.

In a scathing rebuttal of Bush administration policy, the Supreme Court maintained that the detainees had the same basic rights as anyone held in custody by officials of the United States. In its 70-page decision, the Court noted: "Security depends upon a sophisticated intelligence apparatus and the ability of our Armed Forces to act and interdict. There are further considerations, however. Security subsists, too, in fidelity to freedom's first principles. Chief among these are freedom from arbitrary and unlawful restraint and the personal liberty that is secured by adherence to separation of powers. . . "

Antonin Scalia, vehemently opposed to the ruling, wrote in his dissent that the decision would "almost certainly cause more Americans to be killed" because it would make the War on Terror "harder on us."