A LOOK AT the military commissions bill: “During the bitter controversy over the military commission bill, which President Bush signed into law on Tuesday, most of the press and the professional punditry missed the big story. In the struggle for power between the three branches of government, it is not the presidency that ‘won.’ Instead, it is the judiciary that lost.”

I’m not sure I see it this way. All three branches were involved, and the resulting law — whether or not you like it — is the product of extended democratic deliberation.