Mardi soir sur NPR, on pouvait entendre des extraits d’une conversation qui s’était déroulée dans la journée, pendant une audition de la court suprême des États-Unis dans le dossier "Salim Ahmed Hamdan contre Donald H. Rumsfeld".
Une transcription de la session est accessible sur le site de la cour suprême.
Le représentant du gouvernement s’est emmêlé plusieurs fois les pieds dans l’Habeas Corpus, que W. semble avoir bien beaucoup de mal à respecter.
General Clement représente le gouvernement, et les "justices" sont les juges de la court suprême.
Morceaux choisis :
JUSTICE SOUTER: But that, I guess, is the problem that I’m having. For purposes of determining the domestic authority to set up a commission, you say, the President is operating under the laws of war recognized by Congress, but for purposes of a claim to status, and, hence, the procedural rights that go with that status, you’re saying the laws of war don’t apply. And I don’t see how you can have it both ways.
[…]
JUSTICE KENNEDY: — is that — is that true? If a group of people decide they’re going to try somebody, we wait until that group of people finishes the trial before the Court — before habeas intervenes to determine the authority of the tribunal to hold and to try?
GENERAL CLEMENT: Well, with respect, Justice Kennedy, this isn’t a "group of people." This is the President invoking an authority that he’s exercised in virtually every war that we’ve had. It’s something that was recognized in the Civil War, something in the World War II that this Court approved.
JUSTICE KENNEDY: I had thought that the historic function of habeas is to — one of its functions — is to test the jurisdiction and the legitimacy of a court.