Almost certainly, the Administration wants to have its claimed power to unilaterally and indefinitely imprison U.S. citizens endorsed by the Supreme Court only once the highly deferential Sam Alito has replaced Sandra Day O'Connor, and a majority of the Court is safely comprised of a majority of justices with an almost absolutist reverence for unchecked Executive power.

For more on the Padilla power grab: Reddhed at Firedoglake; Yale Law Prof Jack Balkin;

Even conservative newspapers recognize the threat. As the Rocky Mountain News opined today:

it's a disgrace that the government waited so long to issue an indictment - and only then, apparently, to protect its policies from a possible setback in the Supreme Court.

More critical editorials and commentary: The Mercury News; the Washington Post; the New York Times; CBS News' Andrew Cohen;

Other good reads from the past on Padilla: Chisum Lee's 2003 Village Voice article ; Law Prof David Cole's 2002 Nation Article and 2003 American Prospect article, in which he wrote:

Throwing off the constraints of law does not make us more secure. It undermines the legitimacy of our efforts to quell terrorism and makes it less likely that Arab and Muslim communities, the targets of our double standards, will work cooperatively with us to root out al-Qaeda enemies. And it fuels today's unprecedented anti-Americanism, which in turn supports recruitment by the other side.

Our long-term security in the world rests neither on locking up thousands of suspected terrorists who turn out to have no connection to terrorism nor on attacking countries that have not threatened to attack us. On the contrary, it lies in a commitment to fairness, justice and the rule of law. That is the only true strategy of prevention.