[9/6/15] What would life be like without the Constitution and the Bill of Rights? For the answer, all we have to do is look at places where the federal government operates independently of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
Consider Guantanamo Bay, for instance, a federal installation that the president and the Pentagon announced from the very beginning would be totally independent of the Constitution and the federal judiciary. While the Supreme Court ultimately dashed that hope, we nonetheless can get a fairly good idea as to the type of federal judicial system that would be operating in the United States had our ancestors not demanded passage of the Bill of Rights.
In Guantanamo, defendants have had no right to a speedy trial. There are people there who have been languishing in jail for some 13 years without a trial. Oh, sure, throughout that time they’ve been promised a trial but it’s always been just a promise. For all practical purposes, the inmates are incarcerated indefinitely, perhaps for the rest of their lives, without any chance of ever being brought to trial.
Whenever the federal government invades, conquers, and occupies a foreign country, one of the first policies it establishes is one of indefinite detention. Suspects are rounded up, especially men in their 20s and 30s, and simply locked away in jail. Oh, sure, they’re promised a trial one of these days on the charge of “terrorism,” but everyone knows that the trials never come.
Torture is another important part of federal Constitution-free zones. That’s what has happened at Guantanamo, Bagram, and other federal overseas prisons. There is also rendition, a policy in which federal officials send suspected terrorists to brutal partner dictatorships, whose job is to torture the inmates into confessing or divulging information.
Inmates at Guantanamo Bay and other federal facilities are presumed guilty and are treated as if they are guilty. There is no such thing as bail. There is no right of trial by jury by one’s peers. Guilt is determined by federal officials serving as a tribunal.
If trials are ever held, the defendants have no right to confront the witnesses against them. Hearsay is admissible, which is another way to deny defendants the right to confront their accusers. Communications between attorney and client are monitored by federal officials. Many of the legal proceedings are conducted in secret. The trial is not open to the public.
In the process of “rebuilding” a nation they have invaded and occupied, one of the most important things that federal officials do is establish and train a powerful military-intelligence establishment and make it the foundation of the nation’s governmental…CONTINUE READING