Permit a novice to weigh in on the recent SCOTUS decision.  This 185 page document should make for interesting bed time reading, which I will do later.  For the time being, it appears that:

1. The rage we feel at the “justices” of the left, who have given us some of the worst decisions ever made (and who, by the way, I predict will be reversed on many things in the coming years), is justified.
2. This rage should not cloud our judgment as to what the decision really says.

This decision has no teeth.  First of all, the SCOTUS Blog says:

The Court expressly declared that it was not questioning the government’s power to hold Salim Ahmed Hamdan “for the duration of active hostilities� to prevent harm to innocent civilians. But, it said, “in undertaking to try Hamdan and subject him to criminal punishment, the Executive is bound to comply with the Rule of Law that prevails in this jurisdiction.�

Second, we read:

Justice Breyer, joined by Ginsburg, Kennedy and Souter, wrote separately to answer the dissenters’ complaint that the ruling would hamper the President’s ability to deal with a new and deadly enemy. The Court’s conclusion, Breyer said, “ultimately rests upon a single ground: Congress has not issued the Executive a ‘blank check.’…Indeed, Congress has denied the President the legislative auhority to create military commissions of the kind at issue here. Nothing prevents the President from returning to Congress to seek the authority he believes necessary.”

Then finally over at the Counterterrorism Blog (hat tip Michelle Malkin), from Andrew Cochran, we read:

The decision is actually a huge political gift to President Bush, and the detainees will not be released that easily. The President and GOP leaders will propose a bill to override the decision and keep the terrorists in jail until they are securely transferred to host countries for permanent punishment. The Administration and its allies will release plenty of information on the terrorist acts committed by the detainees for which they were detained (see this great ABC News interview with the Gitmo warden). They will also release information about those terrorist acts committed by Gitmo prisoners after they were released. They will challenge the “judicial interference with national security” and challenge dissenting Congressmen and civil libertarians to either stand with the terrorists or the American people. The Pentagon will continue to release a small number of detainees as circumstances allow. The bill will pass easily and quickly. And if the Supremes invalidate that law, we’ll see another legislative response, and another, until they get it right. Just watch.

Let me make a novice prediction.  This decision will make absolutely no difference to the troops in the field.  They will continue to fight and kill the enemy.  As for granting Geneva rights to the prisoners, we don’t torture them anyway.  It is contrary to U.S. law.  We will retain these prisoners for an indefinite period of time (in the words of the SCOTUS, “for the duration of active hostilities”).  This might be a very, very long time.  I predict we will have active hostilities with Islamic facism well into the lives of our children and even our grandchildren.  We will continue to operate Gitmo, we just won’t bring anyone else up on charges.  They will rot at Gitmo.  Finally, the congress will pass legislation that allows the President to take these prisoners before a military tribunal, effectively undoing the SCOTUS decision.  He just won’t do it.  This decision is a hollow victory for the ACLU.  It means between very little and nothing.

This decision is actually a gift.  Think about it.  ” … for the duration of active hostilities.”

Hmmmmmm ……