Judicial branch sides with Executive branch on controversial Guantanamo Bay issue

On February 20, 2007, recent controversies involving the U.S. Court of Appeals have challenged the civilian courts authority to consider whether the military is illegally holding the prisoners of Guantanamo Bay. President Bush pushed the Military Commissions Act through Congress last year to set up a system run by the Defense Department to prosecute terrorism suspects. Shayana Kadidal of the Center for Constitutional Rights stresses the arguements that would defy the will of Congress, if accepted, to be a complete dissapointment. Kadidal quotes, "The bottom line is that according to two of the federal judges, the president can do whatever he wants without any legal limitations as long as he does it offshore." Erik Ablin, a spokesman for the Justice Department praised the decision. "The decision reaffirms the validity of the framework that Congress established in the MCA permitting Guantanamo detainees to challenge their detention".
Most criticized by Democrats and civil libertarians was a provision that stripped U.S. courts of the authority to hear arguments from detainees who said they were being held illegally. The law instead authorizes three-officer military panels to review whether there is sufficient evidence to justify the detention. The new provision introduced by Leahy states, "The Military Commissions Act is a dangerous and misguided law that undercuts our freedoms and assaults our Constitution by removing vital checks and balances designed to prevent government overreaching and lawlessness."
The ruling implemented by the federal appeals court gives out the wrong message about justice to U.S. citizens and the international community.

I agree with the opposing side of the official ruling in which denies court access for detainees with cases currently pending. Although the ruling verify's President Bush's anti-terrorism plan enforcing the Military Commissions Act, it can be validated as dangerous and misguiding to a certain extent. The law has proven to undercut our freedoms and condemns our Constitution by ignoring the significance of checks and balances that are specifically designed to limit government power. Traditionally the U.S. government has its foundation and system of checks and balances that includes the three branches. Each one of these entities is interdependent on the other, and this delegate balance is what makes ours the greatest country in the world. Depriving the detainees of critical due process rights by putting the legal burden on detainees contradicts the justice of each citizen and allows indefinite detention of guiltless people without judicial review.