Supremes To Be Asked To Limit Presidential Powers

This could be very interesting indeed. The actual case concerns Osama bin Laden's former driver, but any decision could affect just what powers Bush has.

Seized by U.S. forces in Afghanistan and imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Osama bin Laden's former chauffeur is now seeking victory over President Bush in a new arena: the Supreme Court.

In oral arguments Tuesday, an attorney for Salim Ahmed Hamdan will ask the justices to declare unconstitutional the U.S. military commission that plans to try him for conspiring with his former boss to carry out terrorist attacks.

The case is complicated. Even experts are finding it difficult to predict what might happen. And it will directly challenge the powers Bush has granted himself.

Whether designating an American citizen as an "enemy combatant" subject to military confinement, denying coverage under the Geneva Conventions to detainees at Guantanamo, or using the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on domestic communications, Bush has said that the Constitution and a broadly worded congressional resolution passed three days after Sept. 11, 2001, empower him to wage war against terrorists all but unencumbered by judicial review, congressional oversight or international law.

In an earlier post today I opined our chances of saving the republic from being a dictatorship may lie with the mid-term elections. Wouldn't it be ironic if a terrorist came to our rescue?

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