Pesky Constitution's Bill of Attainder

A presumed Gentleman named Ed Furey writes to Professor Juan Cole about bills of attainder. Seems those Revolutionaries who founded our nation knew a thing or two about a thing or two...they left clear instructions on what was permissable and what was taboo:

' Professor Cole:

You barely scratched the surface on the unconstitutionality of the so-called terror legislation. Beyond repealing habeas corpus, another grotesque violation of the Constitution is implicated in that legislation. The Constitution specifically forbids the passage of a “bill of attainder.” In the old days, when kings and others were not certain they get a judge or jury to convict someone of a crime, they would simply declare them guilty (attainted) and imprison, torture and/or execute them. When Parliaments did this they passed a “bill of attainder” declaring the person guilty of a crime. What this recent piece of legislation has done is to declare a whole class of persons, “unlawful enemy combatants,” to be criminals, subject to punishment -- imprisonment without trial and torture -- at the discretion of the president. By the way, this does not exclude American citizens.

Good thing the Supreme Court is...neverfuckingmind.

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Read the rest here.

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