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It’s just a small step, and it will very likely meet stiff resistance by the Bush Court (aka the Supreme Court, but let’s face it, it’s packed in his favor right now), but the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the U.S. cannot hold a civilian man in this country legally as an enemy combatant. This represents a fairly big blow to the Bush administration, as you might expect, but I won’t be surprised if they suddenly decide that they’re not really subject to the jurisdiction of this court. After all, they’ve already decided they’re not really subject to the Constitution or any laws Congress passes, so why be subject to the court? Still, it’s nice to see that somewhere, a decision is being made that the rule of law must prevail.

My favorite part of the ruling? That would have to be this:

The President cannot eliminate constitutional protections with the stroke of a pen by proclaiming a civilian, even a criminal civilian, an enemy combatant subject to indefinite military detention. Put simply, the Constitution does not allow the President to order the military to seize civilians residing within the United States and detain them indefinitely without criminal process, and this is so even if he calls them “enemy combatants.”

Hopefully, we can use this, as well as a few other recent court decisions, to begin the long trek back to a nation of laws, where reason and rights prevail.