Padilla Held Without Due Process

The Washington Post has its knickers in a knot of the 4th Court's upholding of the unlimited detention, without charges or trial, of Jose Padilla. The following are my comments on the issue.

Jose Padilla is quite likely a bad guy, and probably deserves to be in prison; but he also deserves a trial.

Saying that the President has such extraordinary powers in wartime begs the question: when did Congress declare war, and against whom? (Only Congress has the power to declare war, at least according to our late, lamented US Constitution.)

The Constitutiuon has been ignored for so long, by so many, that it is just a dead reminder of how great a country could be.

Other little Constitutional setting-asides:
Interim appointments. The President may make such only when the vacancy occurs during congressional recess, not make them behind the Senate's back, whenever he feels like it. (If the latter were so, why doesn't President Bush just appoint John Roberts?)

Kelo v New London. The Supreme Court said that the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution says, "public purpose," rather than "public use," which is what it actually says. When the explicit words and meanings of the Constitution are corrupted, the meaning is also corrupted.

Bennis v Michigan. Tina Bennis didn't let her husband use her car to go pick up a hooker, but the Court awarded the car to Wayne County (MI) anyway, saying that "innocence is no defense."

There's a lot more...