You better tell Al Qaeda because they sure as hell think they are at war with us As I pointed out above, the relevant distinction is there was no threat of follow-on attacks from McVeigh’s cohorts. You can bet that Miranda rights would not exist if individual criminals were usually members of organized groups hell-bent on repeatedly committing mass murder.

“deny legal rights to someone purely on the basis of accusations”

I am not advocating that. The xmas bomber lit himself up in front of 150 passengers. There was a lot more evidence than mere “accusation”. For these cases we need a system somewhere in-between. Have a judge look over the evidence, examine whether there is a significant further threat, whether it is a terrorist attack, etc. Don’t automatically grant Miranda rights in these cases.

In a sense, yes:

http://www.neohouston.com/2009/06/common-law-civil-law-and-the-supreme-court/

FTA:

“early American history shows us that the belief that the common law should generally continue in the US was paramount. In fact, one of the first actions by the legislatures of the new states after the revolution was the so-called reception statutes in which they explicitly accepted English common law, subject to future changes by the legislature going forward. It seems clear that the intent of such actions were to continue the common law judicial approach of interpreting the law as a body of legal principles that included more than just the bold faced words on a piece of paper. Our continuing reliance on common law in areas of contracts and torts is further evidence of this.”

No. Sheesh. I was suggesting you display some of my “wit, intelligence, and broad learning” in your own blog. It might earn you a comment.

You claimed the US justice system began with the American War of Independence. I was correcting that misconception.

Wait, so the US justice system existed before the United States existed?

The US justice system is an extension of English common law.

An extension of, but not the same as, English Common law. There was this thing. Went by the name of the “Constitution”. That and other things around that time, are what I’m talking about. The US justice system was born out of war.

Besides, it could be argued that Henry II made his legal reforms as a consequence of the Anarchy, so it wouldn’t be a great leap to say that English Common law itself came from war.

Anyway, what war has got to do with anything is irrelevant. POWs still have rights, and we’re at war with the Taliban, not al Qaeda, same as no-one went to war with the Oklahoma bomber.

Considering Jefferson et al. were fighting for their rights as Englishmen, if they were alive today, most of them would laugh at the cowardice that leads someone to want to deny legal rights to someone purely on the basis of accusations.

Person A: That guy’s a terrorist!
Person B: No I’m not!
Government Spook: Don’t worry A. The next time you’ll see this guy will be years from now in a body bag in Cuba.

….

Why not start with your own blog? You might get more than 0 comments.

Well I guess that’s it for liberty and states rights then. You’re razor-sharp man, razor-sharp.

If I were halfway more competent at taking what sounds like utter silliness to me at all seriously, I’d be learning a lot more about life, the Universe, and everything from Fafblog…

I’m not an either/or kind of blogger. I think I’m one offensive SOB, and I’m incapable of holding two distinct concepts in my head at the same time. Because when I think of the history of Americans who invoked “liberty” and “states’ rights” against the “f*cktards at the federal level” in order to defend segregation, my head hurts. You should acquaint yourself with that history someday! It might make you a more interesting commenter. Then again, it might not.

As for Giblets, I believe he belongs in the Judith Jarvis Thomson thread, where he can blow up the fat violinist who is blocking the mine shaft.

To my limited perception, libertarian appears to be an ordinary pseudo-libertarian (i.e., Modern Republican), self-righteous wanker troll, hardly the brilliant genius that is the Medium Lobster. To my limited perception.

Nor is he Fafnir. Of this I am sure. I checked again.