it DOES exist

there is a spine. the supreme court has found what the congress and especially the senate lack: a back bone. well, a 'liberal' back bone. sure Bush and his cronies have no problem asserting their authority, but all those democrats elected in 2006 have had a lot of trouble standing up to Bush as they had promised. they still let the republican minority push their agenda. but thats another story that Rolling Stone has already covered, albeit in a Fox News for liberals format.

anyway, in an entirely too close for comfort 5-4 vote, the constitution and core American values do in fact matter and must be respected. the supreme court struck down the law that Bush pushed through that basically stripped prisoners in Guantanamo(and elsewhere???) of the rights of Habeas Corpus. so prisoners there, like anyone imprisoned by the US has a right to know who accused them, of what, and what the evidence is, AND has a right to fight the charges in federal court.

as Eugene Robinson asks 'we really need the supreme court to tell us that?' i dont think so. but we do need it to tell Bush that. its especially pleasing after Bush was able to appoint a couple of hyper conservatives to the bench.

Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion that "The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times." like times of war. they have existed throughout a civil war and two world wars and should have persisted during this war. not to mention we shouldnt have started and shouldnt be fighting this war.

the constitution contains our core values. the constitution spells out what is at the heart of America. not the Bible. not the Koran. not Fox News, not CNN, not Rolling Stone, and certainly not George Bush. thankfully our highest court has in one decision affirmed that and shown us that checks and balances were put in place for a reason. for the highest reason. because there are certain things that we stand for.

now im going to steal Robinson's words, because he sums it up quite beautifully.

I say "amazingly" because it's still hard for me to believe that arbitrary arrest, indefinite detention and torture continue to be debated, as if there were pros and cons. The Supreme Court has now made clear that while justice and honor may be mere inconveniences for Bush, they remain essential components of our national identity.

"The nation will live to regret what the court has done today," Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in a dissent, warning that the ruling "will almost certainly cause more Americans to be killed."

Everyone hopes he's wrong, of course. But if the only thing that mattered were security, why would we bother to have an independent judiciary? Why would there be any constitutional or legal guarantees of due process for anyone? We could just lock up anyone who fit the demographic profile of the average armed robber, say, or anyone with psychological traits often displayed by embezzlers.

The Guantanamo decision will create headaches for the federal courts. The process of granting hearings to the detainees will be messy, imperfect and at times frustrating. I'm confident that in the end the system will work. George W. Bush may not trust America's basic values and highest ideals, but I do.

WaPo