Today, U.S. District Judge, James Robertson dismissed the Hamdan habeas petition (Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, made famous by the Supreme Court decision which struck down Bush's original military commissions scheme earlier this year).Robertson accepted the government's position that the jurisdiction-stripping provisions of the Military Commissions Act removed the court's jurisdiction over Hamdan's petition and that the nefarious MCA applies retroactively to pending petitions. This is a blow to our guys.
Judge Robertson's memo includes a review of the origins and historical development of habeas corpus, "the most usual remedy by which a man is restored again to his liberty, if he have been against law deprived of it." Unfortunately, his decision adds a sad page to that venerable history
- Adrian Bleifuss Prados
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