Hard Decisions
June 12th, 2008The Supreme Court ruled today that our detainees at Guantanamo Bay have constitutional rights, and can challenge their detentions in American courts if they are not charged with a crime. I worry very much that we will have trouble detaining some prisoners who very much deserve to be detained for the rest of their lives as a result of this ruling, but ultimately it is an easy decision: the American government does not have the right to detain anyone indefinitely without charging them with a single crime. President Bush said that he will stand by the ruling, and I hope that he does, but the hard decision does not come with the ruling: it comes with the enforcement. I believe that it would be for the best if the legislature and the executive could get together to pass legislation that would make sure terrorists aren’t let out into the open because of the traditional, stringent burden of proof. By all means, we should be able to give evidence that a man has committed grave crimes before we incarcerate them for the rest of their Earthly existence, but the proof shouldn’t have to be as air-tight as your typical federal case, as these are people captured on the battlefield and typical evidence-gathering methods are not suited for such cases.