 Posted: Fri, Jun 13 2008, 10:30 pm EDT Post subject: McCain slams high court on detainees |
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| Posted on Fri, Jun. 13, 2008
McCain slams high court on detainees The Associated Press WASHINGTON - Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Friday sharply denounced a Supreme Court decision that gave suspected terrorist detainees a right to seek their release in federal courts. "I think it's one of the worst decisions in history," McCain said. "It opens up a whole new chapter and interpretation of our constitution." McCain is one of the authors of the 2006 Military Commissions Act which set up procedures for the handling of detainees. The act denied the detainees access to federal courts. The Supreme Court on Thursday said that provision of the law violated the constitution. McCain on Thursday said he had not read the ruling and reserved his criticism. But on Friday, speaking to about 1,500 people at a town hall meeting in Pemberton, N.J., he attacked the decision, saying the law he helped write "made it very clear that these are enemy combatants, they are not citizens, they do not have the rights of citizens." The issue could be potent for McCain, who often encounters questions from audiences about how he would go about selecting potential justices for the court. McCain often cites Chief Justice John Roberts as the type of justice he would nominate. On Friday he especially praised him for his dissent in the detainee case. McCain spoke to reporters after the town hall, accompanied by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who helped him write the military commissions law. "What happened yesterday was unprecedented," Graham said. "Americans are going to be shocked to find that that mastermind of 9-11, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, now has the same legal standing as an American citizen." http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/nation/elections/presidential/20080613_ap_mccainslamshighcourtondetainees.html |
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| Posted: Fri, Jun 13 2008, 1:10 pm EDT Post subject: McCain campaign comes to New Jersey |
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| by Robert Schwaneberg/ The Star-Ledger
Friday June 13, 2008, 4:34 AM Sen. John McCain brings his presidential campaign to New Jersey today with a town-hall meeting in Burlington County. AP PhotoSen. John McCain "This is Senator McCain at his best, answering questions from the people of New Jersey," said Sen. Bill Baroni (R-Mercer), the chairman of McCain's campaign in the Garden State. "There is no vetting process; no ticketing process." The town hall meeting, at the Burlington County College physical education center in Pemberton, is scheduled to run from 11 a.m. to noon and follow the typical format of McCain giving a short address before taking questions from the audience. Doors open at 9 a.m. It will be McCain's fourth visit to New Jersey since February, but his first since Sen. Barack Obama claimed the Democratic nomination for the presidency last week. The presumptive Republican nominee held a similar-style meeting with voters in New York City Thursday night. The Arizona Republican held a rally at the Colonial Firehouse in Hamilton in February, just before he won all 52 of New Jersey's delegates to the Republican National Convention. He returned in May for a campaign stop at Liberty Science Center in Jersey City and a fundraiser in Lakewood, where he collected more than $1 million. A Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday found Obama leading McCain in New Jersey, 45 to 39 percent. Baroni read the closeness of those numbers as showing the Republican presidential candidate could carry New Jersey this November for the first time in 20 years. --The Associated Press contributed to this report http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/06/mccain_campaign_comes_to_south.html |
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