JOHN ASHCROFT — NOT-SO-SUPER GENIUS: This sounds like a dreadful idea to me:

The Bush administration is developing a parallel legal system in which terrorism suspects — U.S. citizens and noncitizens alike — may be investigated, jailed, interrogated, tried and punished without legal protections guaranteed by the ordinary system, lawyers inside and outside the government say.

It is sadly true that there’s some legal authority for such an approach, stemming from the Civil War and World War II. But it’s still a terrible idea, and in particular anything that breaks down the protections of American citizens is a terrible idea because it raises the potential for politically-motivated abuse of power in a way that a system aimed at non-citizens does not.