2009-11-21

Is Sarah Palin Ignorant of the Constitution and History?

In her recent interview on Fox News with Bill O'Reilly [click for transcript] she says, concerning the choice by Attorney General Holder to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in NYC, "[W]e're going to create this circus atmosphere here in New York and try this terrorist in our court system that is reserved under our Constitution for American citizens to be able to have their rights exercised. That's a problem."

I'm sure Sarah Palin, if she were arrested for terrorism against a foreign country, would rather be tried on an isolated outpost serving as a military base than in a court, and I'd wager money that most Americans don't realize that close to 400,000 Nazis were kept in camps in States like Ohio, California and Texas. Personally, I'd be a bit more concerned about 400,000 Nazis than a couple hundred members of al-Qaeda, but maybe times have changed, and Americans are just a bunch of big scaredy-cats now adays.

But let's analyze that bit about the Constitution.  It turns out it isn't even close to correct.  One has to wonder whose Constitution Sarah Palin is reading!  From Article III, Section II, the only relevant portion of the Constitution of the United States...


The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law and equity, arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority;--to all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls;--to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction;--to controversies to which the United States shall be a party;--to controversies between two or more states;--between a state and citizens of another state;--between citizens of different states;--between citizens of the same state claiming lands under grants of different states, and between a state, or the citizens thereof, and foreign states, citizens or subjects.


Is the United States not an interested party in the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed?  I believe it is.  Is there a single, cotton-picking word in there about rights?  Clearly, there is not.

As a Republican, I can only hope that Sarah Palin hangs her head and apologizes for this and countless, and seemingly endless, fundamental misunderstandings of the American political system.

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