Administration smackdown; SCOTUS style

Well well well… turns out the President doesn’t have all-encompassing authority to do whatever the hell he pleases.

Now the U.S. Supreme Court agrees.

In a 5-3 decision (Chief Justice John Roberts sat out this case as he was seated on the D.C. Circuit Court that issued the originating decision that was overturned today) the Court ruled that neither Congress's post-9/11 Authorization for the Use of Military Force, the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), nor the “inherent powers” of the President give him the authoirty to establish military tribunals on Guantanamo Bay in order to try and convict alleged enemy combatants in the war on terror, finding the commissions illegal under both military justice law and, AND, the Geneva Convention (Isn’t it nice to see the Supreme Court recognize the Geneva Convention even when the current administration does everything in its power to ignore it?)

The ruling was written by Justice John Paul Stevens and fully supported by Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David H. Souter. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote separately in an opinion that did not support all of Stevens' discussion of the Geneva Convention, but did find that the commissions were not authorized by military law or the Convention as a whole.

Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas all dissented (imagine my utter surprise)

You can read the rulings HERE.

The ruling is a very strong reproach of the Bush Administration and it’s convoluted anti-terrorism policies and should be a wake-up call for everyone.

The White House and The Pentagon are both working on reactionary press releases that should be available later today.

Let’s keep in mind that the “president” has stated in the past that he would "like to close Guantanamo," but he’s also stated that he knows that the U.S. is "holding some people that are darn dangerous" at the detention camp and that will prevent them from closing it anytime soon.

Of course we should also keep in mind that Bush has publicly stated before that he can do whatever the hell he wants to do, so who knows what will happen next.

But isn’t it refreshing to see someone slap the administration down for once?

Maybe this is the start of a beautiful trend…