Liberty's Court of Last Resort
Nobody Knows Hamdi's Own Story
by Nat Hentoff
January 24th, 2003 5:00 PM

"Mr. Hamdi could, in fact, be entirely innocent, and yet the court says there is no judicial recourse.
Georgetown University law professor David Cole, National Public Radio, January 8

During one of our last conversations, the late Supreme Court justice William Brennan said, "Look, pal, we've always known the Framers knewòthat liberty is a fragile thing."

Liberty has become much more fragile under the Bush-Ashcroft-Rumsfeld administration. On December 8, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals handed Bush's team its most significant victory so far in inflicting collateral damage on the Bill of Rights in the war on terrorism.

A unanimous three-judge panel ruled that 22-year-old Yaser Esam Hamdi, an American citizen, can be imprisoned indefinitely in a navy brig on American soil. He is being held without charges, and without being able to see his lawyer, federal public defender Frank Dunham. In fact, Hamdi cannot see anyone except for his guards. . . .

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