Following today’s signing ceremony for the Military Commissions Act of 2006, a close friend and top-notch lawyer emails:
Any challenge to this law will be forum shopped–most likely in San Francisco or perhaps in Michigan somewhere. It will likely be overturned at the District Court level and then go to the Court of Appeals. The best shot for these plaintiffs will be the 9th Circuit, so expect a challenge to be filed in California somewhere in the next day or two.
Today’s Christian Science Monitor has more on the anticipated legal challenges here. Of course, all this legal wrangling will also play out on the presidential campaign trail. Sen. Clinton has harshly attacked the McCain-endorsed bill for giving the administration “a blank check to torture, to create secret courts using secret evidence, to detain people, including Americans, to be free of judicial oversight and accountability, to put our troops in greater danger.” McCain has called the legislation “very, very critical for the future security of this nation.” The bottom line: expect more Hillary v. McCain to come.
