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Many parties who are like-minded are cheering yesterday’s Federal Appeals Court ruling denying Guantanamo Bay detainees the right to challenge their imprisonment at Gitmo in U.S. courts. The decision came down in the combined cases of Al Odah v. USA and Boumediene v. Bush.
My cheering is far more subdued–and not just because I’m concerned the U.S. Supreme Court will reverse the decision written by Judge A. Raymond Randolph. More important is the part of the decision glossed over by most reports, but for The Washington Post.
The Post was the only paper that noted the area of my concern. Yesterday’s decision held that Guantanamo Bay fall under Cuban sovereignty. And that’s not a good thing, because if yesterday’s decision is upheld, you know where the Gitmo terrorists’ lawyers are headed next: Cuban courts.

Do we want Cuban courts to be able to review American military tribunals’ rulings? No. And that should have been explicitly ruled out in yesterday’s decision, which apparently it wasn’t. Though, the decision does say that military panels are authorized to review the detentions. Hopefully, that stays any appeals to Cuban authorities. But don’t hold your breath.
Not a good thing.
Also not good, but stupid more than anything, were far-left Senator Patrick Leahy’s comments about the court ruling. He told AP that he’s concerned that this will strip the rights of 12 million lawful permanent residents in the U.S. Huh? It won’t. The Gitmo detainees are not “lawful permanent residents in the U.S.” They’re in Gitmo, and they’re prisoners, not persons with greencards.
Not that it would be such a tragedy if we took away the rights of many of the 12 million lawful permanent residents, who are not really necessarily lawful, since we know many of them got their greencards under false pretenses or rubber-stamped applications for citizenship.