Monthly Archives: December 2006

H. Lee Sarokin was a judge on the Third Circuit until he retired and became an arbitrator. Now he’s a blogger too, and his first post starts things off with a bang:

This is my first entry in to the world of blog, because I am astonished by the lack of outrage over the case of Jose Padilla—an American citizen who has been held in solitary confinement for 31/2 years, been deprived of the right to counsel for 21 months, all as a result of the unfettered discretion of the President in designating Mr Padilla as an “enemy combatant”.

…

The alleged dirty bomb plot is nowhere mentioned in the indictment against him. Mr. Padilla may be guilty of something, but the administration is guilty of far worse.
The administration has justifed (and to large extent the public has accepted) wiretapping, these detentions, and possibly even torture, on the basis that these methods fight terrorism and confine terrorists. But what if they are not terrorists? Hundreds have been released after extended confinement without charges. They are all someone’s husband, son, brother or father. For many such persons, the government has now suspended habeus corpus (“the best and only sufficient defense of personal freedom” Justice Chase, 1868), thus denying the means and opportunity for those detained to establish their innocence of any wrongdoing.

American soldiers are dying to win freedom for the people of Iraq, while we are losing freedom for the people of America.

I just hope current sitting judges are equally outraged.

[Update: How long before Mr. Sarokin gets a cease-and-desist letter from Marvel Comics or 20th Century Fox?]