Chief Justice Roberts cracks wise:
“Congress and the executive (branch) are uniquely positioned to make principled distinctions …”
Bwaa haa ha! Principled distinctions? As in “universally applicable discriminations?” As in “Iraq = Al Qaeda?” As in “Whoops, we killed a million people and shattered the cradle of civilization?” As in “torturing innocent humans to secure false confessions to justify brazenly fallacious war-mongering = self-defense?” As in “lobbing Hellfires from predator drones to kill women and children = winning hearts and minds?” As in “extrajudicial assassination by fiat = due process?”
Okay, let’s let him finish:
“Congress and the executive (branch) are uniquely positioned to make principled distinctions between activities that will further terrorist conduct and undermine United States foreign policy, and those that will not,” Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. wrote for the majority. “A foreign terrorist organization introduced to the structures of the international legal system might use the information to threaten, manipulate and disrupt. This possibility is real, not remote.”
OMG! Don’t let terrorists near the law! They might use it! “To threaten, manipulate, and disrupt [U.S. foreign policy]” You see, U.S. foreign policy is, by definition, above the law. And the legal use of the law by terrorists threatens the orderly use of the legal, universally principled, discriminative distinctions of law U.S. foreign policy.
The law is what we say it is, because we determine who can use it. And even if you are not a terrorist, even if you are exercising your constitutional rights to free speech and association, we plan to intimidate you with lengthy prison sentences for exercising those rights. Wow! Talk about principled distinctions!
The vote was 6-3, Stevens concurring. So, I guess Elena Kagan will, in fact, be the perfect replacement for Stevens, because 9/11 changed everything.
If I were president, I’d declare the Supreme Court a terrorist organization for providing legal assistance to U.S. war crimes.