baithak: Baithak World Jun 13: On Brain, Habeas Corpus, News & Views, KAL's Cartton, RealNews

People are incredibly social beings, and we rely heavily on our interactions with others to thrive, and even survive, in the world. To avoid chaos in these interactions, humans create social norms. These rules and regulations establish appropriate and acceptable ways for us to act and respond to each other. For instance, when waiting in line, we expect people also to wait their turn. As a result, we get upset when someone decides to cut in line: they violated a social norm. But how are social norms maintained? And what makes us comply with social norms? Primarily, the answer is that, if we don’t follow the rules, we might get in trouble. Numerous studies demonstrate that, when the threat of punishment is removed, people tend to disregard social norms. The neat and orderly line disintegrates. Why the Brain Follows the Rules

The US Supreme Court The long awaited Supreme Court decision in Boumediene v. Bush, about whether or not the prisoners at Guantánamo have a Constitutional right to habeas corpus — the right to challenge the basis of their otherwise endless detention without charge or trial, which was granted by the Supreme Court in June 2004, but taken away by Congress in 2005’s Detainee Treatment Act and 2006’s Military Commissions Act — has just been announced, and the United States’ highest judges have ruled, by 5 to 4, that Congress “had not validly taken away habeas rights.”

At present, SCOTUSblog is one of the few outlets to report the story, as follows: “In a stunning blow to the Bush Administration in its war-on-terrorism policies, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday that foreign nationals held at Guantánamo Bay have a right to pursue habeas challenges to their detention. The Court, dividing 5-4, ruled that Congress had not validly taken away habeas rights. The Court stressed that it was not ruling that the detainees are entitled to be released — that is, entitled to have writs issued to end their confinement. That issue, it said, is left to the District Court judges who will be hearing the challenges. The Court also said that “we do not address whether the President has authority to detain” the individuals at the U.S. Naval base in Cuba; that, too, it said, is to be considered by the District judges.” Supreme Court rules that Guantánamo prisoners have habeas corpus rights