Cheney-Addington plotting in the shadows.

* froomkin:

"The rousing of the legislative and judicial branches is the ultimate nightmare of the unilateralists within Bush's inner circle, most notably Vice President Cheney and his chief of staff, David S. Addington. They had argued that nothing -- not Congress, not the courts, not traditional notions of basic human rights -- should limit the president from pursuing the nation's enemies however he saw fit.

Worth watching closely: Whether the high court's decision will bolster the stature of other members of the administration, many of whom have reportedly had reservations about the Cheney-Addington approach all along. Or whether Cheney and Addington will continue to have Bush's ear, and will keep plotting in the shadows."

* tpmm:

"Bernard Kerik, Bush's one-time pick for DHS chief, has finally struck that rumored plea deal. $221,000 in fines is the slap on the wrist for accepting $165,000 in gifts from a mob-tied contractor."

boooooooo

* digby:

"I thank Lt Commander Swift and all the others in the military justice system who managed to fight off the temptation to give in to the ridiculous GWOT juggernaut to take this all the way to the Supreme Court. It won't solve the numerous problems of this ridiculous "war" or this dangerous administration, but it goes some way in beginning to restore my faith in the institutions of the courts and the military. (Our democratic political institutions, on the other hand, seem on the verge of self-destruction.)"

* AL:

" If you read through the dissenting opinions, it's pretty clear that only Thomas has any real objections to the core holding of the case. The others object on statutory construction and jurisdiction grounds. I think the Hamdan case is our modern Youngstown, and that its core pronouncements will endure."

* yoo:

"By putting on hold military commissions to try terrorists for war crimes, five Supreme Court justices have made the legal system part of the problem, rather than part of the solution to the challenges of the war on terrorism. They tossed aside centuries of American history, judicial decisions of long standing, and a December 2005 law ordering them not to interfere with the military trials."

* ew:

"Well, now SCOTUS has pretty clearly said, given the clear direction from Congress, torture is not legal, no matter what Rummy has inserted into the Army's manual on interrogation, no matter what Bush said in his signing statement. And I don't think it will even take a very noble person to refuse to carry out these practices. It will just take an awareness of this ruling, which says law trumps executive overstep. As one and another person simply attempts to CYA, to avoid violating McCain's law and the Geneva Convention, it will get harder and harder for BushCo to find people willing to waterboard and humiliate."

* amy;

" In a surprise move, Romania’s Prime Minister ordered the removal of all of its eight hundred ninety troops. He cited the "human and financial cost" of the war. 10 days ago Japan announced plans to pull its six hundred troops out of Iraq within weeks. Italy has already said it will remove its troops by year’s end. Spain, The Netherlands, Ukraine, Nicaragua, the Philippines and Honduras have already pulled out."