Today the Supreme Court issued a strong rebuke to the president, ruling that American citizens detained in the United States as enemy combatants must be given a fair opportunity to contest the government's claims before an impartial adjudicator, and that foreign terrorism suspects detained by the United States at Guantánamo Bay have the right to challenge the legality of their detentions in court.
Taken together, these decisions reaffirm before the world that America remains the nation of laws envisioned by its founders—that as long as the Constitution is in force and the courts are open for business, the government may not place any person beyond the reach of the law.
Mark David Agrast is the senior vice president for domestic policy at the Center for American Progress.