So who's the swing vote now?
Quote of note:
lawyers familiar with the cases say the justices cannot help but be affected by a scandal that has disturbed the nation.
"It depends on how Abu Ghraib is perceived" at the court, said David B. Rivkin Jr., a former Justice Department official who wrote a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of former State Department and military lawyers who back the administration. "If it's seen as individual abuses, and the system is working -- the military moved quite swiftly to investigate, punished those responsible -- that should reassure the justices…If it is perceived as indicative of a deep, systemic flaw, of the fact that the executive cannot be trusted, then it clearly would not be helpful."
Iraq Prison Abuse May Hurt Administration in Court
By Charles Lane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 13, 2004; Page A22
U.S. soldiers' abuse of Iraqi prisoners has undercut the Bush administration's legal rationale for key components of its anti-terrorism policies, with some officials privately worrying that the scandal may hurt the administration's chances of winning three test cases before the Supreme Court, lawyers close to the Bush legal team said.
At the court, the administration has maintained that military and intelligence officials engaged in the fight against terrorism should generally not be accountable to the judiciary for their conduct of military operations in wartime.
But the pictures from Abu Ghraib prison illustrate the potential for abuse when the executive branch exercises unchecked authority over its prisoners, said the lawyers, who described their conversations with administration colleagues on the condition of anonymity.
"Of course it hurts us like hell," said one private lawyer who has advised administration officials on terrorism-related legal issues. "I spoke to several people at Justice in the last several days . . . and they said it is clearly going to impact the justices."
