Sanity from the courts and the threat of terrorism amongst us

It was a pretty good couple of days for American justice. The day before the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional the execution of those convicted of committing murder when they were juveniles, District Court judge Henry Floyd, threw the administration's enemies combatant case against Jose Padilla out the proverbial window.

In a strongly worded 23-page ruling, Floyd said "to do otherwise would not only offend the rule of law and violate this country's constitutional tradition, but it would also be a betrayal of this Nation's commitment to the separation of powers that safeguards our democratic values and our individual liberties."

Floyd said he was not persuaded by key arguments put forward by the administration to justify its assertion that foreigners and Americans alike who are designated "enemy combatants" by the president can be detained without trial or some other form of judicial review.

Using a phrase often levied by conservatives to denigrate liberal judges, Floyd -- who was appointed by President Bush to the federal bench in 2003 -- accused the administration of engaging in "judicial activism" when it asserted in court pleadings that Bush has blanket authority under the Constitution to detain Americans on U.S. soil who are suspected of taking or planning actions against the country.

Floyd said the government presented no law supporting this contention and that just because Bush and his appointees say Padilla's detention was consistent with U.S. laws and the president's war powers, that did not make it so. "Moreover, such a statement is deeply troubling. If such a position were ever adopted by the courts, it would totally eviscerate the limits placed on Presidential authority to protect the citizenry's individual liberties."

By the way, this America-hatin' judge was named to the bench in 2003 by...George W. Bush.

I guess George is considering that nomination a mistake today, and something he won't repeat.

More on judges...I don't know if Padilla is a wannabe al Qaeda terrorist -- I'd sure like to see a real court sort that out in a trial (if the DoJ has the evidence to bring him to trial, which I doubt) -- but I do know that the greatest terrorist threat we face is likely to be a domestic one.

Lefkow was the target of a murder plot for which a white supremacist, Matthew Hale, was found guilty in April 2004. Hale, 33, is being held in a Chicago jail under special restrictions that were adopted for suspected terrorists. He is awaiting sentencing -- scheduled next month -- for his conviction on one count of solicitation to commit murder and three counts of obstruction of justice.

The murder plot stemmed from a ruling by Judge Lefkow in 2002 in favor of an Oregon group, the Te-Ta-Ma Truth Foundation, which had sued Hale's group, the World Church of the Creator, for trademark infringement. Lefkow barred Hale's group from using the name or any variation of it on grounds that the Oregon group, a recognized religious charity, had trademarked the name "Church of the Creator" in 1987.

Hale refused to comply, and Lefkow initiated contempt proceedings against him. After arriving for a hearing in January 2003, he was arrested on charges of soliciting a follower -- actually an FBI informant -- to murder Lefkow.

According to court documents, Hale and his followers assumed that Lefkow and her husband were Jewish, although they actually belonged to the Episcopal Church. At Hale's instigation, the documents show, the Te-Ta-Ma foundation, its attorneys and Lefkow became the targets of hate-filled, anti-Semitic messages and statements.

In a press release in December 2002 in response to Lefkow's injunction, Hale said her ruling "thus places our Church in a state of war with this federal judge and any acting on authority from her kangaroo court."

He denounced the "Jewish occupational government" and said its members "obviously are the criminals, and we can then treat them like the criminal dogs they are and take the law into our own hands." Hale added, "We must then meet force with force and open warfare exists. It will then be open season on all Jews."

Hale, a self-avowed neo-Nazi and white racist since the age of 12, took over in 1996 as "pontifex maximus" of the World Church of the Creator, a group that says it practices a religion "dedicated to the survival, expansion and advancement of the white race" and the elimination of blacks, Jews and other "mud races."

In 1999, one of Hale's followers, Benjamin Smith, went on a shooting rampage against minorities, leaving two people dead and nine wounded in Illinois and Indiana before fatally shooting himself as police closed in. One of those Smith killed was former Northwestern University basketball coach Ricky Byrdsong.

Following that shooting spree, the World Church of the Creator nearly doubled the number of its chapters nationwide, according to a group that monitors hate crimes. The group, the Center for New Community, reported that the World Church expanded to 76 chapters in 25 states and five foreign countries and increased its affiliated groups in U.S. prisons from three to 16.

This is one I'm sure David Neiwert will be reporting on in detail in the weeks and months to com.