Solicitor General Neal Katyal, appointed to replace Justice Elena Kagan after her elevation to the US Supreme Court, is "directing" the Supreme Court NOT to fast-track the legal challenges to Obamacare, saying that it does not merit the immediate attention of the SCOTUS. Why is this important? Here is a little context for you...He works directly for Attorney General Eric Holder, who has refused to prosecute a case of voter intimidation by the New Black Panthers because they are [in his words] "my people." He also worked for Holder in the DOJ from 1997-99. Why is this important?
His claim to fame is the successful defense of Osama bin Laden's chaffeur, Salim Hamdan, before the U.S. Supreme Court in 2006. The legal ramifications of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld are still resonating throughout the legal and policy world, and forced Congress to craft an alternative plan to the military commissions system.
At one point, [Osama's chauffeur] Hamdan asked Katyal why he was spending so much time defending a Yemeni man who was awaiting a hearing before a military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay. Katyal's response? “I said that my parents had come from India. They thought America was a place where people were treated equally and their kids would have an amazing life. What’s happening in Guantanamo is fundamentally inconsistent with the tenets of being an American. These are the first military trials to single out foreigners. We are supposed to have equal protection under the law.”
Well, Mr. Katyal, I ain't no high-faluting lawyer type like you, but it seems to me that your client Hamdal had never set foot on American soil and therefore isn't eligible for quote-unquote equal protection under American Law.
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