John McCain is calling the Supreme Court decision to restore the basic system of justice in which an accused person has the right to hear charges against him "one of the worst" Supreme Court rulings in history. [Boston Globe]

These are essential rights established nearly a millennium ago by the Magna Carta, the minimum right of an individual against a government that throws him in jail and doesn't want to even have to say why.

Bush's attempt to thwart this ages old principle has now been blocked by a Supreme Court that still has a few members who do not genuflect to him, and this time surprisingly opposed his attempt to re-impose stone age tyranny.

McCain doesn't want to be identified with the much-detested Bush, but not only does he agree with Bush and oppose the right wing court's ruling, he calls it one of the worst in history.

As People for the American Way points out, the list of horrible Supreme Court decisions includes "a decision that blacks and whites should drink from separate water fountains. Or that hundreds of thousands of Japanese Americans should be imprisoned in internment camps. Or that African-Americans should not be counted as persons under the law."

And how about Bush v. Gore? One of the most twisted pieces of legal logic ever produced, blatantly partisan and so absurd in its implications that the decision included a stipulation that it can never be used as a precedent. McCain didn't mind that one.

The outrage was not the Supreme Court's narrow ruling to reaffirm the right of habeas corpus, but to deny it and try to turn the clock back a thousand years and invoke total power of governments over individuals. The Bush adminstration doesn't want to have to present charges showing why a person is being imprisoned because it can't make cases against these people. If a real court procedure were conducted, it would reveal too many of the administration's own crimes.