The Gitmo Court

by digby

We are fortunate to have a president who is not going to continue the torture and indefinite imprisonment of detainees in the GWOT. But Bush’s cruel legacy will live on in hundreds of decisions coming down from the Roberts court. Jeralyn at Talk Left reports on today’s sad rulings:

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The Supreme Court issued opinions and orders today. Among them:

• Ruled that a man wrongly convicted and sent to prison for 24 years cannot sue the former Los Angeles district attorney and his chief deputy for violating his civil rights. The court said unanimously that decisions of supervising prosecutors, like the actions of prosecutors at trial, are shielded from civil lawsuits.

• Ruled that police officers have leeway to frisk a passenger in a car stopped for a traffic violation even if nothing indicates the passenger has committed a crime or is about to do so

At the link Jeralyn makes note of several others they have agreed to hear along these lines. This will be going on for some time and will probably take many decades to undo again if they are to be undone at all. The conservative assault on civil liberties is going to continue for a long while. Everyone had better ge used to the idea that if they find themselves on the receiving end of a law enforcement officer they’d better hope he or she doesn’t make a mistake or take a dislike to them. Conservatives believe your rights end at the moment the authorities decide to question you. (Unless you are a gun owner, of course.)

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