Cato Institute
by Timothy Lynch

10/19/05

When lawlessness broke out in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, martial law was declared, military troops were called in to restore order and the news media were on top of the story. Unfortunately, when more dramatic legal developments occur and when such episodes are of much greater legal consequence, the media sometimes fail to give them the attention they deserve. The Sept. 9 court ruling concerning Jose Padilla, an American citizen locked up in a military prison in South Carolina for three years, is a case in point. The ruling should send shockwaves through the American public since the decision seriously undermines constitutional rights. A federal appellate court ruled that constitutional rules that apply to the police do not apply to military personnel. That is a sensible proposition when the military is conducting operations in a war zone like Iraq, or in a disaster zone like New Orleans, but it is an alarming idea when the U.S. military is given carte blanche...

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=5136


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp