Former AGs file suit to protect Habeas Corpus

I thought this story was way underreported. It seems to me it should be bigger news when 8 former high ranking government officials file suit against the Bush administration.

Former Attorney General Janet Reno and seven other former Justice Department officials filed court papers Monday arguing that the Bush administration is setting a dangerous precedent by trying a suspected terrorist outside the court system.

It was the first time that Reno, attorney general in the Clinton administration, has spoken out against the administration's policies on terrorism detainees, underscoring how contentious the court fight over the nation's new military commissions law has become. Former attorneys general rarely file court papers challenging administration policy.

Suspected al-Qaida sleeper agent Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri is the only detainee being held in the United States.

The former prosecutors challenged the Justice Department's right to bring al-Marri before a military commission.

This guy is the next Padilla. Same MO on the government's part. They arrest him inside the US. They can't make the case in criminal court so they designate him as an "enemy combatant" and strip him of every legal right under our rule of law and intend to hold him forever without charge.

"The existing criminal justice system is more than up to the task of prosecuting and bringing to justice those who plan or attempt terrorist acts within the United States _ without sacrificing any of the rights and protections that have been the hallmarks of the American legal system for more than 200 years," the attorneys wrote.

The case is before the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and is one of three that challenge the premise that detainees may not use civilian courts to challenge their imprisonment. The administration's response is predictably nauseating.

Last weekend, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales defended the nation's handling of the detainees. He said they are afforded more rights than required. "What is extraordinary, in other words, is how much - not how little - our law protects enemy combatants," he said.

Yeah Al, that would be the legal system that built our country. Does that whining little weasel think we don't know he's such an incompetent lawyer that the only way he can make a case is to cheat?