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Cass Sunstein "Liberals"

By Big Tent Democrat

In 2002, Obama legal advisor Cass Sunstein wrote:

President Bush's choice stands on firm legal ground insofar as he seeks to use military commissions to try people who planned and participated in the September 11 attacks (and similar actions).

In 2006, the Supreme Court decided Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, where it stated:

Together, the UCMJ, the AUMF, and the DTA at most acknowledge a general Presidential authority to convene military commissions in circumstances where justified under the “Constitution and laws,” including the law of war. Absent a more specific congressional authorization, the task of this Court is, as it was in Quirin, to decide whether Hamdan’s military commission is so justified. . . The[] facts cast doubt on the legality of the charge and, hence, the commission; . . . the offense alleged must have been committed both in a theater of war and during, not before, the relevant conflict. But the deficiencies in the time and place allegations also underscore—indeed are symptomatic of—the most serious defect of this charge: The offense it alleges is not triable by law-of-war military commission.

More . . .

Today, Fred Hiatt writes one of the most startling sentences to appear in an important newspaper editorial in recent memory:

The president must have the legal flexibility to detain those against whom there is credible, actionable intelligence but not enough evidence to bring charges.

(Emphasis supplied.) This is a step towards fascism. It is the power that a Pinochet, a Castro, a Mugabe, indeed all dictators, claim they must have. The Washington Post endorsing this view. Incredible. And yet, can we have any doubt that Obama legal advisor Cass Sunstein agrees with Fred Hiatt on this point? I do not think so.

Fred Hiatt (and one presumes Cass Sunstein) now know his position is viewed as extremist and shameful, so he ends his editorial thusly:

The Bush administration committed innumerable sins in denying fundamental rights to many it detained. It brought dishonor to the country, alienated allies and tarnished the tradition of the rule of law. The next president must be held to a higher standard, but he should not be hamstrung in his ability to protect the country because of the profound lapses in judgment of the current administration.

But there is not one thing that Bush has done in terms of assertion of executive power that Fred Hiatt (or Cass Sunstein) has disagreed with and indeed, the view he states in today's editorial is precisely the view of the Bush Administration, and "liberal" Obama legal advisor Cass Sunstein.

These views are extreme and unacceptable. No one holding such views should have a place in an Obama Administration.

Speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on July 27, 2008 (boomark / email).