Andy McCarthy notes that the ACLU is a fair-weather supporter of judicial independence:
The chutzpah here is stunning, even by ACLU standards. Since they were first announced in 2001, the military commissions have been condemned as illegitimate by the ACLU because the judges are not independent like civilian court judges — they are military officers, and thus they answer to the Defense Department’s convening authority, the Secretary of Defense and, ultimately, the President. Now, the ACLU is complaining that the military judge is defying the commander-in-chief, and wondering whether Secretary Gates is asleep at the switch in allowing such insubordination.
McCarthy goes on to point out that the ACLU also misunderstands the facts; that the judge in question actually is not defying any orders.
