SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE-- ONE WIN, ONE... POSTPONEMENT

Hangin' around with Russ, gave Snarlin' Arlen a spine

This win is huge for our nation. They approved (by a party line vote + Arlen Specter) the Habeas Corpus Restoration Act. Russ Feingold, the only senator with the guts to have opposed this travesty from the beginning addressed the committee and congratulated Leahy and Specter for moving to correct this unspeakable symbol of Bushism. Ralph Neas of People For the American Way speaks for all decent and patriotic Americans when he commends the Senate Judiciary Committee on their action today:

The restoration of habeas is a moral and patriotic course of action that helps restore our constitutional system of checks and balances; it’s a shame that it apparently took a change in partisan control of the Senate to move this forward. It’s about time that the Senate took this action to check this blatant abuse of power by the Bush Administration.The attack on habeas corpus was an attack on the most basic right of citizens in a free society, and the most fundamental check on the governmental abuse of power.

President Bush has done his best to inflame fears and convince us that those held at Guantanamo present an imminent threat to our county. But there must be some fundamentally fair process to identify those who have been justly detained while protecting the rights of innocent people caught up in the conflict and confusion of war.”

Our nation is a nation of laws-- laws to protect the innocent and punish the guilty. When the government begins to ignore those laws, the rights of all citizens are in peril.

Both houses of Congress should immediately pass legislation to restore habeas corpus.

Less celebratory was the postponement of a vote on the Southwick Appeals Court nomination. Rumors have been flying that, outrageously, Majority Leader Harry Reid has made a deal with Miss McConnell to allow this through. Reid's office absolutely denies this is true and claims the Judiciary Committee will take up the issue next week. We'll be watching.


UPDATE: PRESSURE STARTS BUILDING ON REID TO LET DEMOCRATS DEFEAT SOUTHWICK

Obama is no longer the only Democratic candidate for president willing to stand up and talk out loud about Bush's bigoted nomination to the Appeals Court. Probably another reason the Inside the Beltway slime patrol hates Edwards. Here was his statement; I hope Reid is listening:

"President Bush's nominee, Judge Leslie Southwick, has an abysmal record of voting against the interests of workers, consumers and the civil rights of all Americans. We must demand that federal judges have demonstrated their commitment to Americans' full range of constitutional protections. Judge Southwick fails that standard. The stakes are too high for the Senate to wave through yet another hard-right Bush judicial nominee."