History Revisited

In yet another blow to the Bush Administration, the federal courts have made a decision that favors civil rights over Presidential authority.

The three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the government should charge Ali al-Marri, a legal U.S. resident and the only suspected enemy combatant on American soil, or release him from military custody.

The federal Military Commissions Act doesn't strip al-Marri of his constitutional right to challenge his accusers in court, the judges found in Monday's 2-1 decision.

"Put simply, the Constitution does not allow the President to order the military to seize civilians residing within the United States and then detain them indefinitely without criminal process, and this is so even if he calls them 'enemy combatants,'" the court said.

Such detention "would have disastrous consequences for the Constitution _ and the country," Judge Diana G. Motz wrote in the majority opinion.

This situation has a familiar ring to it since it wasn't that long ago that Native Americans were also subjected to being rounded up and held without charge or legal representation.

Do we ever learn from our past mistakes in America?  I sometimes wonder.  It would seem to me that we should be more leery of the government having absolute authority over us than spend our time considering whether our neighbor is a terrorist waiting to pounce at any moment!

This type of mentality is exactly how the government was able to treat the Native American's so severely.  We shouldn't allow it to happen again to another group of people.