Finally some limits on Bush

Now that the Supreme Court has ruled that the Bush regime cannot bypass the normal workings of the law by trying Guantanamo detainees before secret military commissions, there is finally one branch of government setting limits on Bush's shredding of the Constitution.

This is not only a resounding defeat for Bushism and a victory for the rights of detainees, it is an unequivocal reminder that this is a nation defined by Constitutional law with three separate, co-equal branches of government designed to check each other.

The 5-3 decision (with Chief Justice Roberts recusing himself) shows that Justice Kennedy is now the sometime swing vote on the Court. Predictably, Scalia, Thomas and Alito dissented from the majority. Thomas' written dissent should go down in the history of the court as among the most shameful examples of Constitutional ignorance:

Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a strongly worded dissent and took the unusual step of reading part of it from the bench -- something he had never done before in his 15 years. He said the court's decision would "sorely hamper the president's ability to confront and defeat a new and deadly enemy."

The court's willingness, Thomas wrote in the dissent, "to second-guess the determination of the political branches that these conspirators must be brought to justice is both unprecedented and dangerous."

I remember Thomas complaining bitterly of a "high-tech lynching" by those who opposed his nomination to the court. Now, it seems, he's content to be just another White House lackey with his soulmates Scalia and Alito.

Update: Glenn Greenwald analyzes the decision. Meanwhile, Atrios warns against premature celebrations:

My quick take is that it's certainly an important symbolic victory, but this administration's contempt for the law, the constitution, and the balance/separation of powers that our system rests on isn't going to be very affected by what 5 people in black robes say. They've ignored Congress and they'll ignore the Court too, leaving our mainstream media with more time to deal with the impending threat of blogofascism.