The broadcast network evening newscasts gave as much emphasis Thursday night to the biting dissent as the majority opinion in the 5-4 Supreme Court ruling on behalf of the Guantanamo detainees, but told the story through the prism of the Bush administration getting rebuked by the decision characterized as “historic” and “landmark” -- with ABC's Martha Raddatz ominously warning “it could be very embarrassing for the administration.” CBS avoided any label for the majority while tagging the dissenters as “conservative” and only NBC noted how some of those already released have committed atrocities.
“The Supreme Court, for the third time, has slammed the Bush administration for its handling of terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay,” CBS anchor Katie Couric announced. Wyatt Andrews asserted “the ruling essentially tells the Bush administration no more halfway justice at Guantanamo” as he segued to a soundbite from a representative of a left-wing group by relaying how “lawyers for the detainees called it a victory for America's reputation around the world.” Andrews, who applied no liberal labels, said the “ruling was bitterly rebuked by the court's conservatives.”
From Kabul, NBC's Brian Williams teased “a big defeat for the Bush administration,” though he later uniquely portrayed the “landmark ruling” as “victory” for the detainees, before Pete Williams tagged both sides, citing “the court's five more liberal members” and “the four conservative dissenters.” ABC anchor Charles Gibson reported that the court “today handed the Bush administration a stinging defeat.” Jan Crawford Greenburg applied the most accurate labeling, referring to how “moderate Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the decision with the four liberal justices” while “conservative Justice Antonin Scalia read a sharp, almost personal dissent.”
It really removes the vail of secrecy. And it could be very embarrassing for the administration. We don't know what these people did. We don't know what they're charged with. We don't know how serious the charges are against many of them.
Transcripts of the Thursday, June 12 CBS, NBC and ABC evening newscast stories on the 5-4 SCOTUS ruling:
CBS Evening News:
KATIE COURIC: Now to Washington where the Supreme Court, for the third time, has slammed the Bush administration for its handling of terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay. Wyatt Andrews reports federal courts could see a flood of detainee cases as a result of the latest high court decision.
WYATT ANDREWS: The ruling essentially tells the Bush administration no more halfway justice at Guantanamo, that the detainees there, according to Justice Anthony Kennedy, “have the constitutional privilege of habeas corpus.” That simple statement gives the 270 detainees the right to challenge their detentions, not at a military tribunal, but in front of a U.S. judge.
GITANJALI GUTIERREZ, CENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS: This is an excellent day for the rule of law.
ANDREWS: Lawyers for the detainees called it a victory for America's reputation around the world.
ANDREWS: But the 5 to 4 ruling was bitterly rebuked by the court's conservatives, with Justice Antonin Scalia saying that for the first time “the court confers a constitutional right on alien enemies detained abroad in the course of an ongoing war.” Scalia pointedly said the ruling “will almost certainly cause more Americans to be killed.”
SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: It is a dangerous decision.
ANDREWS: Dangerous, says Senator Lindsey Graham, because in the middle of a war, military officers could be dragged into federal court.
GRAHAM: Never in the history of warfare have we allowed enemy prisoners to go to a federal court and sue our own troops to be released.
One big wild card here is what happens to the 80 trials that the military still wants to hold down in Guantanamo? The trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed: that probably will not be impacted, but others, Katie, will almost certainly be reviewed.
NBC Nightly News:
PETE WILLIAMS: Brian, this ruling means that 270 or so detainees now get the constitutional right to have their lawyers come before federal judges here in Washington and argue this: You've got the wrong guy. For the first time in history, the Supreme Court ruled that constitutional rights apply even outside the U.S. to foreign citizens held by the American military. Writing for the court's five more liberal members, Justice Anthony Kennedy said, the “Constitution designed to remain in force in extraordinary times,” including the “right to be free from arbitrary and unlawful restraint,” something many of the detainees have been without for as long as six years. And because the ruling is based on the Constitution, Congress cannot take detainee rights away simply by passing a law as it did two years ago.
MICHAEL RATNER, LAWYER FOR DETAINEES: Incredible ruling, can't be overridden by Congress, can't be overridden by the President. So we're really excited that our clients can finally get a day in court.
PRESIDENT BUSH: We'll abide by the court's decision. That doesn't mean I have to agree with it.
PETE WILLIAMS: By itself, this decision doesn't free anyone. The detainee lawyers will start their work here in the federal courts in the next few weeks. As for the high-value detainees, Khalid Shaikh Muhammad and the others, this decision could eventually delay their military trials scheduled to start in the fall. Brian?
BRIAN WILLIAMS: All right, Pete Williams at the court for us tonight in Washington.
ABC's World News:
JAN CRAWFORD GREENBURG: Charlie, this is one of the most significant wartime rulings in the nation's history and it literally undercuts the entire system the Bush administration and Congress created to imprison and eventually bring to trial these terror suspects. It was a cornerstone in the Bush administration's war on terror, sending hundreds of terror suspects to a U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba under U.S. military control, but outside U.S. courts. Today's ruling throws open the courthouse doors, giving terror suspects a basic constitutional right to challenge their detention in federal courts. They can ask to see classified evidence, call witnesses, and ask a federal judge to set them free. President Bush's reaction was terse.
PRESIDENT BUSH: We'll abide by the court's decision. That doesn't mean I have to agree with it. That's a deeply divided court. And I strongly agree with those who dissented.
VINCENT WARREN, DETAINEE ATTORNEY: What this decision means is that it's not a get out of jail free card, but simply an opportunity for these men to go before courts and judges to determine whether they are being held illegally or not.
Now lawyers for some of the detainees, this afternoon, already have started filing papers in federal court, arguing they should not be held at Guantanamo. But that process could take months and months, leaving it to the next President and the next administration to resolve. Charlie?
GIBSON: Jan Crawford Greenburg, reporting from the Supreme Court tonight. And reaction to the decision has been swift and passionate. Supporters of the ruling hailing it as an important step in upholding constitutional rights. Opponents denouncing it, as a threat to national security, and perhaps to American lives. Our White House correspondent, Martha Raddatz, is here. Martha, it was a 5 to 4 decision, but sweeping in its scope. Did how sweeping it was catch the administration by surprise?
MARTHA RADDATZ: It certainly did, Charlie. This is a real mess for the Bush administration. They expected, they say, a reversal, but certainly not the scope of this. And they are trying to figure out what happens next. But I can almost guarantee there will not be a completed trial by the end of the Bush administration.
GIBSON: And, Martha, one of the reasons that the Bush administration has been so reluctant -- and the Congress, reluctant about this is because they don't want these trials going on in court and they have to present evidence that they say they don't want to present because it compromises national security. So how do they go forward in this case?
RADDATZ: It really removes the vail of secrecy. And it could be very embarrassing for the administration. We don't know what these people did. We don't know what they're charged with. We don't know how serious the charges are against many of them. As Jan mentioned, there are about 270 detainees. We know only about a fraction of those men. And what they did, we'll soon be finding out.
