Andrew Cohen: The White House Decision on Defense

The White House announced Wednesday afternoon that it would not, after all, veto the pending defense bill over its controversial new terror detainee provisions. From the Associated Press: The White House abandoned its threat that President Barack Obama would veto a defense bill over provisions on how to handle suspected terrorists, as Congress raced to finish the legislation. Press secretary Jay Carney said last minute changes that Obama and his national security team sought produced legislation that "does not challenge the president's ability to collect to collect intelligence, incapacitate dangerous terrorists and protect the American people." Here are five, quick thoughts about this important moment in constitutional history. 1. This is textbook stuff. What happened this week to the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act is straight out of political science or constitutional law class, the tyranny of the majority having just imposed itself upon a minority. The two popularly-elected branches of government this week have collaborated on a new law that infringes upon the core constitutional rights of US citizens , the right to due process as determined by a federal civilian court judge, and it will now be up to our independent judiciary to determine whether this effort is legal or not.