By Any Means Necessary

The Administration captured Jose Padilla, an American citizen, on terrorism suspicions, and held him as an enemy combatant for three years without being charged and without access to a lawyer. Once they saw that their legal arguments were not going to hold up in court, they abruptly charged him and moved him from Guantanamo to a federal jail. That set up today's rejection of Padilla's appeal by the US Supreme Court.

Padilla was moved in January to Miami to face criminal charges, and the government argued that the appeal over his indefinite detention was now pointless.

Three justices said the court should have agreed to take up the case anyway: Justices David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer.

And three other court members, including Chief Justice John Roberts, said that they would be watching to ensure Padilla receives the protections "guaranteed to all federal criminal defendants."

An appeals court panel had all but called for the high court to deal with the case, saying it was troubled by the Bush administration's change in legal strategy — it brought criminal charges only after it looked like the Supreme Court was going to step in.

Stevens, Roberts and Kennedy essentially said in their opinion that if Padilla wasn't suddenly charged after three years of dormancy and moved into the criminal justice system, they would have heard his appeal. The charges they brought against Padilla aren't even the "dirty bomb, wanted to blow up apartment buildings" charges that they issued to detain him in the first place. They are more subtle conpiracy charges.

The point is that, to this Administration, a victory on a technicality is a victory nonetheless. They have no problem breaking the law, then changing their tune when challenged, making their lawbreaking moot. That's completely out of step with the entire history of American democracy, but completely in step with the total lack of accountability that has characterized the Bush Administration from Day One.