A federal judge struck down President Bush's authority to designate groups as terrorists, saying his post-Sept. 11 executive order was unconstitutionally vague, according to a ruling released Tuesday.
The Humanitarian Law Project had challenged Bush's order, which blocked all the assets of groups or individuals he named as "specially designated global terrorists" after the 2001 terrorist attacks.
"This law gave the president unfettered authority to create blacklists," said David Cole, a lawyer for the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Constitutional Rights that represented the group. "It was reminiscent of the McCarthy era."
Did Mc Carthy ever have to deal with 3,000 dead in one day on US soil? Just wondering.
A White House spokeswoman declined to immediately comment. At the time of his order creating the list, Bush declared that the "grave acts of terrorism" and the "continuing and immediate threat of future attacks" constituted a national emergency.
This case leaves an important question unanswered, if the Commander in Chief, with the aproval of Congress can't identify the enemy, then who will?
Michelle Malkin ""This same judge ruled parts of the Patriot Act unconstitutional that barred giving expert advice or assistance to groups designated international terrorist organizations in 2004.""
Captain's Quarters ""Nor was that the first time Collins has had a problem with anti-terrorist legislation. During the Clinton administration, she struck down the 1996 anti-terrorism law passed by Congress in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing. Collins seems to have trouble reading the law, finding all counterterrorism legislation too vague to be understood. Perhaps the problem lies with Collins more than the laws themselves.""
Say Anything suppiles us with a list of terror attacks commited by one of the groups in question, the Tamil Tigers, and it's a pretty long list... now add the list of assassinations... The list of assassinations includes 11 activists, 12 government servants, 5 journalists, 3 writers, 12 rival militants, and 22 politicians.
I'm thinking they might be terrorists. Send a copy to Judge Collins, to help her work out the vagueness of it all.
Stop the ACLU has more. The Jawa Report has a copy of Judge Collins' order here.
