Sen. McCain Renounces The Rule Of Law

On Thursday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) introduced the "Enemy Belligerent, Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act of 2010." As The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder observes, the bill ostensibly "would allow the U.S. military to detain U.S. citizens without trial indefinitely in the U.S. based on suspected activity."  The following section of the bill establishes loose standards defining a "high-value detainee" that does not require legal protections:

Any suspected unprivileged enemy belligerents considered a "high-value detainee" shall not be provided with a Miranda warning.

The bill asks the President to determine criteria for designating an individual as a "high-value detainee" if he/she: (1) poses a threat of an attack on civilians or civilian facilities within the U.S. or U.S. facilities abroad; (2) poses a threat to U.S. military personnel or U.S. military facilities; (3) potential intelligence value; (4) is a member of al Qaeda or a terrorist group affiliated with al Qaeda or (5) such other matters as the President considers appropriate. The President must submit the regulations and guidance to the appropriate committees of Congress no later than 60 days after enactment.

Meanwhile, here's McCain in 2005, discussing the need to preserve justice in America:

"Now, I know that some of these guys [at Guantanamo] are terrible, terrible killers and the worst kind of scum of humanity. But, one, they deserve to have some adjudication of their cases. And there's a fear that if you release them that they'll go back and fight again against us. And that may have already happened. But balance that against what it's doing to our reputation throughout the world and whether it's enhancing recruiting for people to join al Qaeda and other organizations and want to do bad things to the United States of America.

"I think, on balance, the argument has got to be -- the weight of evidence has got to be that we've got to adjudicate these people's cases, and that means that if it means releasing some of them, you'll have to release them.

"Look, even Adolf Eichmann got a trial."

McCain used to believe that we need to follow the law even if it means having to set terrorists free. Now, he basically wants to eliminate the rights of anyone who looks fishy, including American citizens.  Incredible.     

Aside from losing an election, it's unclear what circumstances might have inspired such a reversal, but McCain appears to be waging some sort of odd crusade against his maverick-y past.  The Wonk Room reported earlier that after voting multiple times to cut Medicare through the budget reconciliation process, McCain is now promoting legislation that would prohibit using reconciliation to reduce Medicare spending.