Credit Dodd for important stance

9/23/07
With a senator running for president (as they all seem to do eventually), any actions must be viewed through the prism of politics, even more so than usual. Every bill proposed, every filibuster upheld must first be judged by who it will benefit — is some Iowa-based vote machine in mind, or is this really the best policy?
This applies even to our own Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, who, though he trails a multitude of candidates in polling and funding, is firmly entrenched in his run for the White House. For him, as with fellow Democrats Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama plus a passel of Republican lawmakers, political questions are necessarily at the forefront.
As it happens, politicians sometimes make choices that are politically beneficial as well as the right thing to do. Dodd has taken that path with his support of a bill that would have given military detainees a right to challenge their detentions in court — the 56-43 vote in favor of the change last week fell four shy of the 60 votes needed to clear a procedural hurdle and allow the bill through.
It is, to this day, amazing that we need to have these conversations in the United States. That the Senate would have to discuss restoring a right that has been a mainstay of Western law for 800 years shows just how far we have slipped from our ideals. This is a nation of laws, or it used to be. We don’t lock people away forever without evidence and a conviction in a legitimate courtroom.
Dodd may well reap political benefits from his actions. There is a sizable portion of the electorate that thinks our legal system did just fine for 200-plus years and did not need an overhaul. But his gain does not make his stance less necessary. Though it failed to move ahead last week, the bill should be brought back as soon as possible, passed by both houses of Congress and signed by the president.
As for Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, who voted to hold the bill back, his choice is disappointing, to say the least. As one of the most vocal supporters of war as the first and last resort to solve our nation’s security problems, he should at least acknowledge the necessity of maintaining the rule of law in our detention policies. We as a nation believe all people have a right to challenge detention, have a right to a fair trial and have a right to equal protection. Lieberman and many others seem content to wash all that away, to our nation’s ever-lasting detriment.