A Few Key Passages From Bush’s “Military Commissions Act of 2006”
With the important caveat that I’m not a lawyer, here’s how I read the law Bush proposed yesterday:
Geneva rights are not enforceable under U.S. law.
RIGHTS NOT JUDICIALLY ENFORCEABLE.
(1) IN GENERAL. “No person in any habeas action or any other action may invoke the Geneva Conventions or any protocols thereto as a source of rights, whether directly or indirectly, for any purpose in any court of the United States or its States or territories.”
No one designated an “enemy combatant” by Bush has any recourse to U.S. criminal courts:
[Other than the military tribunal] … no court, justice, or judge shall have jurisdiction to hear or consider any claim or cause of action, including an application for a writ of habeas corpus, pending on or filed after the date of enactment of this Act, against the United States or its agents, brought by or on behalf of any alien detained by the United States as an unlawful enemy combatant, relating to any aspect of the alien’s detention, transfer, treatment, or conditions of confinement.
The law applies retroactively to anyone taken into custody since 9/11:
This Act shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act and shall apply retroactively, including to any aspect of the detention, treatment, or trial of any person detained at any time since September 11, 2001, and to any claim or cause of action pending on or after the date of the enactment of this Act.