The American public is a sleeping giant. Most of the time life is good, and it doesn’t worry about politics. Or life is busy and it doesn’t worry about politics. It can be very hard to get its attention. But when it does focus, it focuses hard.
Could the sleeping giant be about to wake on issues like Guantanamo and Padilla?
Poll on Court Cites Detainee Rights as Concern: Americans seem as interested in the Supreme Court’s approach to the rights of detained terrorists as they are in abortion, according to polling released yesterday. Both are considered very important issues facing the high court.
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“This important question of the trade-off of civil liberties and protection is one the public takes very seriously,” said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center. “The public has been reminded recently of the ongoing threat of terrorism and what we should or should not have to sacrifice for our safety.” He did note that, until now, the question of detainees’ rights “has not been one of the issues at the forefront of debate about the Supreme Court.
Wouldn’t be the first time that the public was ahead of the media and the inside-the-beltway crowd.
