Senator Specter and the Law Greenhouse

[elleng]

I can’t let Arlen Specter’s five terms in the Senate slide into history without recalling the most bizarre encounter between a lawmaker and the law that I witnessed during my 30 years in Washington.

The issue was the Military Commissions Act of 2006, the response by Congress and the Bush administration to the Supreme Court’s Guantánamo-related decision of that year, Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. That decision, while invalidating President George W. Bush’s initial, unilateral effort to set up military commissions for the trial of Guantánamo detainees, also invited Congress to establish military commissions by legislation. Congress ran with the court’s invitation, and kept on running — all the way to abolishing the jurisdiction of all federal courts to hear any habeas corpus petition challenging the continued detention or treatment of any Guantánamo detainee.

While the bill was pending, Senator Specter, then a Republican and the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, denounced the jurisdiction-stripping provision as unconstitutional. “What the bill seeks to do is set back basic rights by some 900 years,” the senator declared, in reference to the Magna Carta origins of the right to habeas corpus. An amendment he offered to delete the provision failed. Then — unlike seven Senate Republicans who had the temerity to stand up to the administration — Arlen Specter went ahead and voted for the bill.

But wait, there’s more.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/20/senator-specter-and-the-law/?hp

[TreasonousBastard]

1. For those who don't bother to read the links...

or just hate the Times, Greenhouse's last line in the article:

"What I mean to convey by these reflections on Senator Specter’s trajectory is not surprise so much as sadness — sadness because he knew better."

(How many politicians can we say this about?)

[enough]

2. As Specter's constituent for decades, I find this article sums up what was so infuriating about him.

That constant pretense of open-mindedness and thoughtfulness, masking the constant servility to the powers-that-be.

[Uncle Joe]

3. Kicked and recommended for the O.P., the courtesy of post 1 and the insight of post 2.

Thanks for the thread, elleng.

[elleng]

4. You're welcome, Unc. Greenhouse is a treasure!