Katherine Forrest: A Constitutionalist Judge to Celebrate

[Raoul Duke]

Military Arrest in Doubt as U.S. Fights Rookie Judge

Katherine Forrest, a federal judge appointed by President Barack Obama who less than a year later blocked a controversial military-detention law, will have that ruling tested when an appeals court hears the government’s claim that her decision would irreparably damage national security.

Forrest, 48, a military-history buff, went from living on food stamps as a teenager to advising Time Warner Inc. and United Airlines Inc. as a corporate litigator. She then took a seven-figure pay cut on the path to her dream job as a judge, and was appointed to U.S. District Court in Manhattan in 2011.

Within months, Forrest blocked Obama and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta from enforcing part of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2012, rejecting arguments that she should defer to congressional and executive authority in national- security matters. The plaintiffs in the case said the law permits the military to arrest U.S. citizens for exercising their freedom of speech and of the press.

“Here, the stakes get no higher: indefinite military detention -- potential detention during a war on terrorism that is not expected to end in the foreseeable future, if ever,” Forrest wrote in a 112-page opinion. “Presented, as this court is, with unavoidable constitutional questions, it declines to step aside.

Forrest’s move earned praise from both ends of the political spectrum, from Tea Party to Occupy Wall Street activists. The Obama administration, meanwhile, warned that the first-year jurist was threatening the ability of the U.S. military to fight terrorism on the battlefield. That ruling is set for oral arguments today before the U.S. Court of Appeals in New York.

“Forrest should go down in history as having pulled this republic away from the abyss of hell,” wrote Naomi Wolf, author of “Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries.” One follower of former Congressman Ron Paul, a Texas Republican, proposed a national “Judge Katherine B. Forrest Day.”

Groups including Gun Owners of America, the Conservative Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Bill of Rights Defense Committee and the Center for Media and Democracy have urged the appeals court to affirm Forrest’s decision. U.S. Senators John McCain, Kelly Ayotte and Lindsey Graham, all Republicans, filed a brief supporting the government’s position.

 

[mugsy]

Very interesting - I am looking forward to what the appeals court will have to say.

BTW - with no disrespect meant to either the OP or Judge Forrest, don't laber her a Constitutionalist until we get to see a little more jurisprudence with her stamp on it -- she could just as easily be a Liberal activist, I hope not but only time will tell.

 

[JPK]

Very interesting - I am looking forward to what the appeals court will have to say.

BTW - with no disrespect meant to either the OP or Judge Forrest, don't laber her a Constitutionalist until we get to see a little more jurisprudence with her stamp on it -- she could just as easily be a Liberal activist, I hope not but only time will tell.

I agree.

 

[flybeech]

What does "or associated forces mean? It could be argued that "or associated forces" are a part of Al-Qaeda, or ANY "associated force" that is completely unrelated to Al-Qaeda as Americans who can be indefinitely detained under the NDAA, without trial. It is my understanding that Judge Forrest ruled the NDAA is unconstitutional simply because "or associated forces" could be us.