Time To Be Fair

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The U.S. Supreme Court is absolutely correct to lend its ear to the appeals of the more than 650 detainees locked away in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The Bush administration has tried to sway the world into believing that the Guantanamo captives, most rounded up in Afghanistan and Pakistan, are all enemies to the red, white and blue.

In truth, that's hard to know because the administration has for two years fought to keep these men languishing in a legal logjam, preventing them from knowing their crimes, denying them even the hope that they will ever have a chance to state their case. Scores of lower courts have sided with the administration's interpretation that the detainees have no right to the U.S. courts because they are being held technically outside American soil in Cuba.

But America does legally lay claim to the naval base where the captives are being held. More important, the court's hearing, expected in early March, may be as close as the detainees get to the rights many Americans take for granted: the right to a lawyer, the right to a trial, and the right to know their crime.

Some Bush backers see the court's intervention as a dangerous move that could undercut the president's mission of rooting out terrorist by any means. They are wrong.

By accepting the case, the court is doing just as much to defend the country, ensuring that, in its zeal, the administration does not run afoul of the Constitution. That may not immediately change the fate of the detainees, but it does guarantee someone is looking out for democracy.