[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 13226]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       GUANTANAMO COURT DECISION

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Madam Speaker, this week's Supreme Court decision 
regarding enemy terrorist detainees at Guantanamo Bay threatens the 
separation of powers by undermining the authority of the President as 
commander-in-chief and thwarting repeated efforts of Congress to 
address this issue. Taking enemy combatants from before military 
tribunals and putting them before civilian judges is a mistake.
  Justice Scalia, who wrote a dissenting opinion to the 5-4 decision, 
said, ``America is at war with radical Islamists. The game of bait-and-
switch that today's opinion plays upon the Nation's commander-in-chief 
will make the war harder on us. It will almost certainly cause more 
Americans to be killed.''
  Chief Justice Roberts said, ``Today the Court strikes down as 
inadequate the most generous set of procedure protections ever afforded 
aliens detained by this country as enemy combatants.''
  Madam Speaker, I believe history will judge the five Justices who 
supported this policy to be mistaken. Unfortunately, this most serious 
issue was stripped from the jurisdiction of America's elected 
officials, who are accountable to voters, and given to judges never 
elected and not accountable to the population at large.

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