Watch CBS News

Guantánamo

GUANTÁNAMO....Justice Anthony Kennedy has decided to rejoin the forces of light and justice:

Foreign terrorism suspects held at the Guantánamo Bay naval base in Cuba have constitutional rights to challenge their detention there in United States courts, the Supreme Court ruled, 5 to 4, on Thursday in a historic decision on the balance between personal liberties and national security.

"The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times," Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote for the court.

I wonder, in practice, what this will mean? As near as I can tell, there's not a single country in the world willing to take these prisoners even if they get a trial and are judged innocent. This means that we either release them in the United States or — what? Dump them on a military cargo plane and release them in Afghanistan, where no one can stop us from doing it? There's no question that the court did the right thing today, but I wonder what the end game is here?

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.