On Monday the Supreme Court issued a decision on the Jose Padilla case. Or rather, they evaded issuing an opinion.

Padilla is the American citizen who was arrested in Chicago in 2002 and has been detained on a Navy brig since then, designated an "enemy combatant" by our fearless leader. This designation would ostensibly authorize our government to detain Padilla until the true four horsemen of the apocalypse returned to shove aside pretenders Bush, Rumsfeld, Rice, and Ashcroft.

The Supreme Court did rule on two related cases, but decided that Padilla's case had been brought in the wrong court, and his lawyers would have to refile their suit. The Court ruled against the government in the other cases, but I think Salon's summary is too positive. I have followed Padilla's case since he was arrested and I'm pretty unhappy that in some ways he is back to square one. True, the Hamdi decision does bode well for him if and when his case comes before the Supreme Court again. But meanwhile, his 5th and 6th Amendment rights continue to be withheld every day he remains locked up. His future may look better than it did last week, but his present circumstances have not changed one iota. It's a sad state of affairs when Clinton gets impeached over some bullshit that affected NOTHING, and the mainstream press (and Congress) seem to give Bush a pass on this abuse of power.