In November 2004 Judge James Robertson halted the Survivor-like military tribunal games Rumsfeld and Bush were playing with the Gitmo prisoners. They were being denied any trial rights as the Executive Branch was pretending to be the Judicial Branch. Judge Robertson declared the procedures unlawful and stated the court could not proceed until a decision was made whether the Gitmo prisoners should have Geneva Convention protections.

Enter Judge Raymond Randolph on the infamous 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. Randolph was appointed by Bush Sr. in 1999. In 2001, Randolph overturned a previous court decision and ruled Microsoft did not attempt illegally “tie” the browser to its market-dominant operating system. In May of 2005, Randolph helped his buddy, Dick Cheney, keep his energy policy task force procedures secret by ruling against the Sierra Club that was trying to make Cheney comply with open meeting laws during policy sessions. Randolph also serves on the Advisory Board of George Mason University Law and Economics Center, which has received $115,000 from ExxonMobil since 1998.

Obviously, Judge Raymond Randolph is not one to rule against his friends. Last Friday Randolph made the decision that he was qualified to determine the Geneva Convention status of Gitmo prisoners, as previously requested by Judge Robertson. He decided that Gitmo prisoners are not subject to Geneva Conventions and that military tribunals do apply to the prisoners.

Judge Randolph’s opinion states the Bush Regime does not violate the separation of Powers under the constitution by trying the prisoners in military tribunals. Judge Randolph also ruled that Rumsfeld has authority to conduct military tribunals because on the Congressional joint resolution authorizing the use of force after the September 11 bombings.

The Congress made him do it. Oh wait, the Congress was lied to before they made that decision. Facts do not seem to deter Judge Randolph in his decision-making, hence the US Gulag is open for business again.