Congressman Marty Meehan, a senior member of the House Armed Services and Judiciary Committees, issued the following statement following President Bush's signing of the Military Commissions Act of 2006:

"The President's signing of the Military Commissions Act today was an exercise in futility.  By failing to protect the right to habeas corpus, President Bush leaves this new system of military commissions open to a Supreme Court ruling that will likely strike it down.  The American people deserve a system that will allow us to bring these alleged terrorists to trial, but one that is true to American values and will stand up to judicial review.  The bill President Bush signed does none of these things and is an affront to one of our most basic civil liberties."

 Congressman Meehan is the only Democrat on both the Judiciary and Armed Services Committee, the two committees that had jurisdiction over the Military Commissions Act.  In both Committee mark-ups of the bill, Congressman Meehan's amendment to restore habeas corpus rights was defeated on a party-line vote.  He also offered the amendment to the Rules Committee when the Military Commissions Act was being considered on the floor, but the Republican leadership would not allow an up or down vote on the Meehan habeas amendment.

The amendment was supported by the ACLU, Amnesty International, Center for American Progress, Human Rights Watch and Human Rights First.

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