Via Reuters: U.S. Judge: Guantanamo Suspects Have Rights

While I am amenable to the argument that non-citizens may not have the same rights under the Constitution as citizens (depending on the exact circumstances), I do adhere to the notion that there are fundamental hunan rights, many of which are, in fact, detailed in the US Constitution. As a result I cannot abide by the concept that we have the right to indefinitely detain human beings who “might” be a threat. Either they are a threat or they are not, and there needs to be a legitimate process by which to determine that fact.

The issue to me is that there has to be some standard applied to these detainees, and since it seems we have been unable to construct a viable one, I am not sure the proper course isn’t the Constitution.

Said

U.S. District Judge Joyce Hens Green in her ruling:

The main part of her ruling held the suspects can challenge their confinement and rejected the government’s position that all the cases must be dismissed.

“Of course, it would be far easier for the government to prosecute the war on terrorism if it could imprison all suspected ‘enemy combatants’ at Guantanamo Bay without having to acknowledge and respect any constitutional rights of detainees,” Green said.

“Although this nation unquestionably must take strong action under the leadership of the commander in chief to protect itself against enormous and unprecedented threats, that necessity cannot negate the existence of the most basic fundamental rights for which the people of this country have fought and died for well over two hundred years,” Green said.

“In sum, there can be no question that the Fifth Amendment right asserted by the Guantanamo detainees in this litigation — the right not to be deprived of liberty without due process of law — is one of the most fundamental rights recognized by the U.S. Constitution,” she said.

I can find no basic fault with line of reasoning.