Sunday constitution blogging

It's obviously not Thursday but I have to take advantage of my windows of opportunity these days.

For our constitutional consideration today we have a trial. Here's the teaser from the opening of Magnifico's post at Daily Kos:

The Los Angeles Times has an article about Khalid Shaikh Mohammed's upcoming trial at Guantánamo Bay. In the article, "Defending KSM, 'the most hated man in the world', Josh Meyer writes about the lawyer who is assigned to be KSM's lead defense lawyer — Capt. Prescott L. Prince, a Navy Reserve judge advocate general. The significance of this trial, I think, cannot be understated as Capt. Prince explains:

"I think it's the constitutional case of our time," Prince, 53, said in a recent interview in his office, U.S. and Navy flags front and center on his desk. "Because in the 221st year of America, the question is whether the Constitution applies to the government."

[Emphases in Magnifico's post]

Magnifico comments further down:

I believe Khalid Shaikh Mohammed should receive our nation's best defense and a fair trial. Personally, I have little doubt Khalid Shaikh Mohammed is a bad man who has plotted mass murder against Americans. He may have even murdered Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter as he claims to have done, but KSM is also one of three people the CIA has admitted to have waterboarded. We claim to be a nation of laws, but when people representing our nation torture can we still make that claim? Is the military commissions system even fair?

I added that and join in stating that we probably have in KSM someone who needs to be brought to justice and held accountable for whatever he may have perpetrated or conspired to perpretrate. The kicker is that this needs to be done in a just manner under the law and according to the norms of civilization, not in a kangaroo court that tramples on our Constitution and makes a mockery of justice.

Unfortunately, the behavior of the Bush government has been so reprehensible that we are faced with a wretched possibility. As Magnifico concludes:

The Bush administration didn't like the rules forbidding torture, so they circumvented them. So when KSM goes on trial. The choice may ultimately be between a guilty verdict or the Constitution.

[Emphasis mine]

Go read the whole thing here.
--the BB