Legal Commentary

Did the Boumediene case make the Supreme Court a big campaign issue overnight?

[T]he prospect of using the decision as a rallying point seemed to occur to many conservatives simultaneously. The ruling has ?teed up the Supreme Court issue nicely for the G.O.P.,? Curt Levey of the Committee for Justice, a group that advocates for Republican judicial nominees, wrote on his blog. The Wall Street Journal?s editorial page quoted Justice Robert H. Jackson?s famous observation that the Constitution is not a suicide pact and added, with reference to the author of Thursday?s majority opinion, ?About Anthony Kennedy?s Constitution, we?re not so sure.?

On the other end of the spectrum, liberals warned that the vision of civil liberties embraced by the court?s narrow majority ? security requires ?fidelity to freedom?s first principles,? Justice Kennedy wrote ? was hanging by a thread. ?One more Bush justice on the court and the decision would likely have gone the other way,? said Kathryn Kolbert, president of People for the American Way. Senator Barack Obama, the presumed Democratic nominee, praised the decision as ?an important step toward re-establishing our credibility as a nation committed to the rule of law.?

Full post as published by Althouse on June 14, 2008 (boomark / email).