Last Thursday, the Supreme Court voted to protect the habeas corpus rights of non-citizen prisoners held by the United States government. I think it was a solid decision–they’ve got seven centuries of political and legal history backing up that supporting basic due process = good and democratic.
John “Maverick” McCain not only disagreed with the decision, he called it
one of the worst decisions in the history of this country.
Whoa! Let’s put things into perspective, shall we? What kind of bad crowd might Boumediene v. Bush be running around with?
Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857), which I am sure tops everyone’s list as the worst decision ever, outside of the KKK and neo-nazi groups.
Bradwell v. Illinois (1872), which an 8-1 ruling that it was constitutional for the state to deny a qualified woman’s right to practice law on the basis of her gender.
Plessy v. Ferguson (1898), which became the legal foundation for a half-century of “separate but equal” segregation.
Hammer v. Dagenhart (1918), which ruled that Congress did not have the power to prohibit the interstate commerce of products manufactured by children under fourteen
Buck v. Bell (1927), which supported the power of the state to forcefully sterilize the mentally retarded
Korematsu v. United States (1944), which upheld the constitutionality of imprisoning Americans solely on the basis of their Japanese heritage
Of course, “bad” is entirely subjective. I’m not sure how many of these McCain might include on his own personal “worst e-var SCotUS decision list,” but you can be sure that Roe v. Wade is on it.
What bothers me is that four Supreme Court Justices, including the sometimes level-headed Chief Justice, cast dissenting votes, supporting the right of the U.S. to take years of people’s lives away in a system that has locked up a number of *proven* non-enemy, non-combatants. And half of U.S. voters seem ready to elect a president who, through his choice of nominees, could tip the balance against habeas corpus and overturn Roe v. Wade.
Electing this man president, my friends, would be a more likely candidate for “one of the worst decisions in the history of this country.”
