The Washington Post reports that the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals just handed the Administration a huge victory for its ability to detain any US citizen indefinitely and without recourse to any courts:
http://tinyurl.com/9ze4p (Sorry about the tinyurl, but I can never get the other way to work.)
This will go the the Supreme Court, and if it is upheld, today's date will be as good as any to mark the end of the Constitution as anything else but a historical document. The Padilla case essentially stands for the proposition that the Executive branch has unlimited power to determine that a US citizen is an "enemy combatant" and cane be held forever without trial or any other type of judicial relief.
While there is some pretense that this is limited to the GWOT and associates of Al-Quaeda, there is really nothing in the Administration's position that limits their claims to unlimited power to sieze and detain persons. Moreover, the actual designation of anyone as an enemy is not open for review--it is at the fiat of the Executive branch. Any government that has power will exercise it to its fullest scope and beyond. Any government that is given unlimited power will inevtiably abuse it.
As if we need anything else to worry about...