'American Taliban' John Walker Lindh set for release in May under restricted internet access

Release to Guantanamo?

Will spend remainder of life looking over his shoulder.

‘You’re either down with the Constitution, or you’re not’. —Day 1 of Constitutional Theory in graduate school. This case certainly puts that to the test.

I’m not defending Lindh, at all. (Far from it. I wouldn’t have offered the deal he got. I wish he had gotten a harsher sentence). But the government offered him a deal with sentencing guidelines. He accepted. He’s served his sentence, and the government is about to uphold their end of the deal and release him.

It’s not like he’s about to live the good life. He’ll have a restrictive (to say the least) parole, he probably won’t be invited to too many neighborhood block parties, and I can just about guarantee that he’s already been approved for domestic surveillance by the NSA and other agencies. He’s subject to the Son of Sam law, so no Lifetime movies in the future, either. He’s been assaulted while in prison, and another good bet is that some enterprising civilians who don’t think enough justice has been served will attempt to do the same after he’s released.

As detestable as his actions were, he’s an American citizen. As much as I don’t enjoy typing it, he’s afforded the same protections of the Constitution as any Rallypointer. Some responses are unfortunate. Deport? Bag and tag? Guantanamo? Sure, that would feel good. But just remember, once you start violating someone’s Constitutional rights simply because they’re a really awful guy/did a really awful thing, it gets a little easier and easier to do to the next guy, who is a little less awful.

And that’s a slippery slope we should avoid. “Nowhere in the Bill of Rights are the words "unless inconvenient" to be found.” —A.E. Samaan

*note, the below article is an interesting read
https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/06/23/john-walker-lindh-detainee-001-in-the-global-war-on-terror-will-go-free-in-two-years-what-then/