Kyl, Graham, and Scalia do the dirty work, and Ponnuru provides the distraction

Just so we're all on the same page as to how disengenuous some politicians and pundits can be, check out this fascinating debate, initiated by Ramesh Ponnuru's July 25 article from National Review. Ponnuru's arguments revolve around the Detainee Treatment Act, passed in December of 2005. Carl Levin, the Democrat sponsor of the bill, reassured Senators in the weeks leading up to the vote that the DTA would most assuredly not bar the Supreme Court from hearing habeas corpus cases, specifically those like Hamdan vs. Rumsfeld. After formal debate was over on Dec. 21, but before every vote was counted, the Republican co-sponsors, Kyl and Graham, inserted into the Congressional Record a written colloquy that they attempted to pass off as live debate, saying explicitly that DTA would strip SCOTUS of jurisdiction over Hamdan. A later amicus curae brief submitted to the Supreme Court attempted to cite this as evidence that the Court had no authority concerning the case. Hamdan defense attorneys rightly argued against this bit of dissembling, although Justice Scalia, who knows no historicism, preferred to read the plain language (no matter how contrived) rather than consider the facts. In his own article, Ponnuru tries to say that Democrats had inserted their own language into the Record after debate, that the meaning of the law was therefore unclear, and that Scalia was right in wanting to side with Kyl and Graham and throw out the case.

Too bad he's wrong.

Emily Bazelon at Slate first noted Kyl and Graham's tricks back in March, then again in June when Hamdan was actually decided. Despite all this damning evidence against the good Senators, Ponnuru wrote his column (linked to above), and was swiftly denounced in turn by Bazelon again. So now not only have Kyl and Graham been caught red-handed, but Ponnuru continues to try to push their lies down our throats. And of course, he won't retract anything he's said, despite being just plain incorrect. Now, call me a conspiracy theorist, but does it not look slightly as though someone high up tapped Kyl and Graham to perform their sheisty move, counting on Scalia's interpretation to win the day and for cheerleaders like Ponnuru to make the medicine go down easy? Sorry, fellas! Maybe someday when Americans are lax enough you'll be able to torture and detain people all you want, but today there are still a few diligent journalists and jurists.