Releases : Public Service

On Thursday (June 12), the Supreme Court ruled that foreigners being held at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, retain the same rights as U.S. residents to seek writs of habeas corpus for unlawful detention, paving the way for them to challenge their extended imprisonment in federal court.

The 5-4 ruling was for the combined cases of Boumediene v. Bush and Al Odah v. the United States, which addresses the provision of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 that does not give detainees housed at Guantanamo Bay the right to have their habeas corpus petitions heard by U.S. federal courts. The decision, which marks the first time in U.S. history that habeas corpus rights have been extended to foreign prisoners held overseas, illustrates the "ideological cleavage" that now exists on the Supreme Court in cases that involve broad issues of public policy, according to Dr. Paul Collins, University of North Texas assistant professor of political science.

Collins says the Court's five-member majority -- comprised of moderate and liberal justices -- "rather forcefully rejected the notion that habeas corpus rights can be suspended absent a rebellion or invasion."

"The dissenters -- all conservative justices -- made it quite clear that they believe the Court's majority erred in its failure to take seriously the national security issues implicated in the case," he says.

This past year's Supreme Court term was only the second for all of the current justices, which include Associate Justice Samuel Alito, appointed in January 2006, and Chief Justice John Roberts, appointed in September 2005. The two justices have shifted the ideology of the Court to more conservative than in the past.

Collins says Justice Antonin Scalia's "scathing dissent," which was joined by Roberts, Alito and Justice Clarence Thomas, further illustrates the ideological division of the Court.

"Justice Scalia took the rare steps of both reading his opinion from the bench and purposefully omitting the word ‘respectfully' from the last line of his dissent," Collins says.

The Guantanamo Bay decision, he adds, further establishes the Court's willingness to review and nullify policies enacted by the elected branches of government that run afoul of the Constitution, "even when those policies involve national security concerns, which are traditionally left to Congress and the President."

Collins can be reached at his office at (940) 369-8829 or by e-mail at pmcollins@unt.edu.

On Tuesday, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama clinched the Democratic presidential nomination on the final day of the primary season. The focus now turns to whom he will select as the vice presidential nominee, and who will be Republican nominee John McCain's running mate, as Obama and McCain prepare for the election in November. Sen. Hillary Clinton has suggested that she is open to joining Obama's ticket as the vice presidential nominee.

As you continue your coverage of the presidential race, consider this University of North Texas expert who can discuss a variety of topics related to the nominating process.

Dr. Matthew Eshbaugh-Soha, an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science, suggests that Sen. Hillary Clinton did not actually lose the nomination to, but simply "did not have enough votes to win in a very evenly matched and closely contested race."

"In many ways, the level of involvement, interest, and excitement that both candidates brought to the race -- most of which we can attribute to the competitive nature of the nomination contest, something we have not seen in quite some time -- should be a boon to the Democratic party, so long as no group feels left out of the subsequent discussions of direction and policy, so long as no group feels badly enough to stay home or vote Republican in November," he says.

He says that Clinton's becoming the Democratic vice presidential nominee could unite the party.

"If there is a question of party unity -- and, indeed, a party in disunity typically poses disaster for the presidential candidate -- then Clinton being on the ticket as vice president may help all sides come together and be relatively happy and excited about the Democratic ticket," he says, adding that's not unprecedented for the second-place finisher in the primary season to become a vice presidential nominee.

"George H.W. Bush won the Iowa caucuses in 1980, and even though he called Reaganomics, ‘voodoo economics,' he became vice president," he says. "The real question is whether Obama needs Clinton to unify the party. If he does not, then there may be some downsides to selecting her as vice president."

He notes that as vice presidents have become more important in presidential administrations, presidential candidates typically ask if the selection offers "something tangible to the ticket, whether electorally or policy-wise."

"Given that McCain has a decided edge in foreign policy experience and there were questions about Clinton's foreign policy experience, it may be best for Obama to find someone who is deep in experience, like (New Mexico Gov.) Bill Richardson. Party unity probably comes first, though, because a candidate is unlikely to win the presidency with support from a divided party," Eshbaugh-Soha says.

With the presidential nominees from both parties decided, and the vice presidential nominees likely to be decided in the next few weeks, many Americans may wonder why a nominating convention from either party is still needed. Eshbaugh-Soha calls the conventions "formalities," but says they are important because they are the first venue for the candidates to have a clear, national audience.

"Their acceptance speeches at the convention are the first opportunity for them to appear presidential, where people may begin to say to themselves, ‘Okay, I can see it now; I can see the candidate in the White House.' The national convention is each party's moment in the sun, so to speak. Conventions will never go away, even when we typically know who the nominees will be months before the first gavel brings the convention to order," he says.

Eshbaugh-Soha has published research in the American Journal of Political Science, Political Research Quarterly, Presidential Studies Quarterly, Policy Studies Journal, and Congress and the Presidency, and has contributed chapters to Politics in the American States and Public Opinion and Polling around the World. He is the author of The President’s Speeches: Beyond ‘Going Public,’ which explores the impact of the president's signals on the adoption and implementation of public policy.

Eshbaugh-Soha may be reached at:

E-mail address: mes@unt.edu

DENTON (UNT), Texas --  A powerful earthquake shook China on Monday, with early news reports indicating 8,500 people have been killed in the Sichuan province.

Dr. Jack Rozdilsky, University of North Texas assistant professor of public administration and an expert on emergency administration and planning, outlines the challenges that emergency officials will face in the next few hours of the recovery effort.

"Right now, the challenges they would be facing in these early hours would be the concerns about aftershocks," Rozdilsky says. "The earthquake happened in a heavily populated area and there could be many persons trapped inside structures. The important thing is an all-out search and rescue to find persons trapped underneath rubble and collapsed structures."

Next, officials will have to complete a series of damage assessments, he says. They will need to determine the amount of damage to public facilities such as hospitals and other areas that could serve as shelter for people who lost their homes. To help with immediate relief efforts, officials will have to assess damage to communication networks, such as cell phones and Internet connections, and transportation networks such as highways. In addition, officials have to examine whether secondary disasters are possible from the aftermath of the earthquake, he says.

"In that area of China, you have look at whether there was damage to industrial facilities and factories," Rozdilsky says. "For example, if there is a factory that used a hazardous material in its manufacturing process, tanks could be ruptured, causing secondary disasters or fires."

Rozdilsky teaches in the Department of Public Administration's undergraduate and graduate degree programs in emergency administration and planning and researches the recovery of cities from disasters. He was previously a land use agent with the Tri-County Regional Planning Commission in Lansing, Mich., where he developed regional hazard mitigation plans. Rozdilsky is also conducting a long-term study of Greensburg, Kans., which was devastated by a 2007 tornado that destroyed 95 percent of the city and killed 11 people.

Rozdilsky can be reached at e-mail: rozdilsky@unt.edu or office: (940) 565-3786.