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Originally Posted by The_Dunedan
Wanna know the -really- fun part? This new law forbids the Supreme Court, or any other court, from hearing challanges to the law itself. The text of the law places it outside Judicial Review. Section 950j forbids any challange to the new legislation, including the President's authority to permit torture before any court, at any level.
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I think you've misinterpreted this law, as atrocious as it is.
Sec. 950j does not forbid any challenge to this law;
it forbids challenges to any ruling of a military commission as defined by the law:
Sec. 950j. Finality or proceedings, findings, and sentences
`(a) Finality- The appellate review of records of trial provided by this chapter, and the proceedings, findings, and sentences of military commissions as approved, reviewed, or affirmed as required by this chapter, are final and conclusive. Orders publishing the proceedings of military commissions under this chapter are binding upon all departments, courts, agencies, and officers of the United States, except as otherwise provided by the President.
`(b) Provisions of Chapter Sole Basis for Review of Military Commission Procedures and Actions- Except as otherwise provided in this chapter and notwithstanding any other provision of law (including section 2241 of title 28 or any other habeas corpus provision), no court, justice, or judge shall have jurisdiction to hear or consider any claim or cause of action whatsoever, including any action pending on or filed after the date of the enactment of the Military Commissions Act of 2006, relating to the prosecution, trial, or judgment of a military commission under this chapter, including challenges to the lawfulness of procedures of military commissions under this chapter.
This, in and of itself, is probabably unconstitutional, if the case of
Hamdan v Rumsfeld is a precedent. The Supreme Court held (5-3) that military commissions set up by the Bush administration to try Guantanamo detainees "violate both the UCMJ and the four Geneva Conventions".