Supremes Wham Bush Whims

American Justice pulled her Bush-tattered cloak around her today and showed the world a flash of her former dignity through a Supreme Court ruling.

As Washington Post staff writer William Branigin reports, "The Supreme Court today delivered a stunning rebuke to the Bush administration over its plans to try Guantanamo detainees before military commissions, ruling that the commissions are unconstitutional.

"In a 5-3 decision, the court said trials were not authorized under U.S. law or the Geneva Conventions."

So the Constitution still does stand for something besides being an election-year vehicle for time-wasting GOP amendments that limit rights and freedoms.

This ruling confirms the GOP Congress and Bush administration can't strip the Supreme and federal courts of jurisdiction. Bush and his neocons can't lock up individuals under claims of wartime powers without benefit of traditional protections such as jury trial. International treaties, such as the Geneva Convention on the treatment of prisoners of war, apply to those the Bush administration deems "enemy combatants."

It's about time someone slaps the Bush hand that has made a shambles of the rule of law, human rights, international respect, and the government's traditional "checks and balances."

The decision, written by Justice John Paul Stevens, points out that rules and procedures cannot be changed at the "whim of the Executive."

So the Supremes wham Bush's whims. A blow for justice.