Geodog

A judge who gets it

Three cheers for U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar, who is currently hearing the petition by the father of American citizen Yaser Esam Hamdi to let his son see a lawyer. While I think the government has some legal ground to declare Hamdi an enemy combatant (he was apparently captured in Afghanistan - the government says as part of Taliban, his father said that he was a charitable worker who got caught up in the conflict,) I don't think that any US citizen can be declared an "unlawful enemy combatant" and held incommunicado forever, as the Bush administration claims the right to do.

The Washington Post reports that Judge Doumar has been presented with a 2 page declaration by an undersecretary of defense, Michael H. Mobbs, explaining how Hamdi was determined to be enemy combatant, and the Government's position is that once the declaration was presented, the Judge is foreclosed from asking any more questions or getting any more involved. Fortunately, Judge Doumar seems to be made of sterner stuff. He has been asking questions like:

"Can the military do anything they want with him, without a tribunal?"

and he has been getting answers like: "The present detention is lawful,"

The best quote in the article was the final one:

"I have no desire to have an enemy combatant get out of any status," Doumar said. "However, I do think that due process requires something other than a basic assertion by someone named Mobbs that they have looked at some papers and therefore they have determined he should be held incommunicado. Just think of the impact of that. Is that what we're fighting for?"

A judge who gets it. Unfortunately, the 4th Circuit has ruled against Judge Doumar every time he has ruled that Hamdi is entitled to see a lawyer, and they will probably do so again.