The US Congress this week set forward something unprecedented: the selective suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus for so-called "enemy combatants". This ambiguous term has been applied, and may be applied once more, to American citizens.

Not since Abraham Lincoln (hero? no) tried to suspend the previlege of a Habeas Corpus hearing has the United States seen a more flagrant breech of civil liberties. It all stems from the Bush Adminstration's attempt to capture, hold, and try people (both foreigners and US citizens) in a manner which is not consistent with Common Article Three of the Geneva Conventions. Both Iraq and Afghanistan are Signatory Powers to the Converntions, and as such, even the non-uniformed fighters in their territories must be afforded the protection of the Conventions. Either the Adminstration and Congress recognize that they should try terrorists as they have tried terrorists in the past -- under US criminal codes -- or they must declare WAR, a term of art which is the only means by which the us military may be properly used according to the Constitution.

On September 28, Tim Lynch, of the Cato Institute (www.cato.org) joined Gardner Goldsmith to talk about this threat to the US Constitution during a time of non-declared war. Make careful not of this, it is extremely important. The Supreme Court will undoubtedly speak on it in the future, and you, as a US citizen, may even be subject to the new standards.

Welcome to the constitutional republic.