From the New York Post in light of the recent Supreme Court decision to grant Habeas Corpus rights to detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Senator Obama’s foreign policy advisers say if Osama bin Laden is captured he should have the right to defend his case in court.

Monroe Rising notes that this would mean the presumption that Osama bin Laden is innocent of the crimes of 9/11 until a court of law finds him guilty.

Obama also noted on June 18th that he would like to see bin Laden adjudicated in the manner of the Nazi War Crime Tribunals at Nuremberg. However, as John McCain noted on his Web site Nazi War criminals were not given habeas

“Unfortunately, it is clear Senator Obama does not understand what happened at the Nuremberg trials and what procedures were followed. There was no habeas at Nuremberg and there should be no habeas for Osama bin Laden….By citing a historical precedent that does not include habeas, he sends a signal of confusion and indecision to our allies and adversaries and the American people.”

Aaron Goldstein at Canada Free Press has a great summary of the history surrounding the Nuremberg trials.

Habeas Corpus is the right of those detained by the United States to be taken to court so that their case can be heard to determine if their detention is lawful or not. The police or the government, for example, cannot simply grab a person off the street and put them in jail with no cause or evidence that you have committed a crime. If they attempt it, you have the legal right as a person to have your case heard. This was not the case until this decision for those prisoners at Guantanamo Bay who were captured by the government in War as members of a stateless terrorist group. The Supreme Court granted these prisoners the right to be taken to court and forces the Government to make their case against them known.

During the Nuremberg trials, no such right existed under American law because they were being tried, in Germany under an international tribunal. While Obama may have been describing conditions whereby Nazi War criminals were given a trial, they did not appear to have the right to question their detention.

Many on the right are juxtaposing Obama’s profession as a Constitutional Law scholar with this very obvious historical and legal misstep.