"Fixing The Military Commissions Act"

From The Carpetbagger Report:

According to The Hill, there may be a move underway to try to undo some of the damage caused by the Military Commissions Act which the President signed into law in October:

Gearing up for a major clash with the Bush administration and Republicans in Congress, several key Senate Democrats are planning to overhaul the newly minted legislation governing military tribunals of detainees. . . .

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), who is running for president and who, come January, will be the second ranking Democrat on the International Relations Committee, introduced legislation today that would amend the existing law.

Dodd said he’s expecting the legislation to be taken up early next year. “The bill goes back and undoes what was done,” Dodd told The Hill. . . .

Dodd is the first Democrat to take aim at the controversial military tribunals bill. But Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the incoming Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, also said that he is in the process of drafting “major changes” to the legislation.

Good for Leahy and Dodd. It’s nice to know that at least a few members of Congress understand how truly pernicious and un-American that law is.

Some perspective is warranted here, though. Even if Dodd and Leahy are able to push through this sort of corrective legislation (and get the House to follow suit), President Bush will never sign it, not in a million years. He would veto any such bill, and not only that, he would invite the entire press corps over to the White House to watch him do it, and would issue a statement accusing the Democratic Congress of trying to grant rights to terrorists.

Don’t get me wrong. I still think Dodd and Leahy should do whatever they can, especially given the very real possibility that various provisions of the Military Commissions Act will be struck down by the courts over the next two years, but it’s important to keep expectations in check. Until Bush leaves office, there is very little progress that can be made on this front, at least without the courts intervening first.