You might remember that a few months ago a plea deal was struck (hit on the links for two earlier posts of mine on the subject) with the handful of men at Guantanamo who were actually charged with something. The deal was that the death penalty was taken off the table in return for their guilty pleas. A few days after the deal was accepted by the judge the secretary of defense (Austin) tried to renig on the deal. Yesterday a senior military judge said "no" you cannot pull out of a deal that was bargained for and accepted. Read more here. I will see if I can find an actual copy of the order but in essence the military Col. judge said that Austin vested authority in the judge to accept a plea deal and just because he didn't like the deal did not give him authority to overrule the deal.
Not sure how much the rule of law will continue to be followed in this country but this was good news.
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