A Chequer-Board of Nights and Days

Reporting from Washington -- Harvard Law Dean Elena Kagan, President Obama's choice to represent his administration before the Supreme Court, told a key Republican senator Tuesday that she believed the government could hold suspected terrorists without trial as war prisoners.

She echoed comments by Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. during his confirmation hearing last month. Both agreed that the United States was at war with Al Qaeda and suggested the law of war allows the government to capture and hold alleged terrorists without charges.

If confirmed as U.S. solicitor general, Kagan, 48, will defend the administration's legal policy in the courts.

This gives the Obama Administration as much license as the Bush Administration had in setting detainee policy. It is, in fact, no different from the stance that the Bush Administration took. Note as well that in the story, Kagan is recorded as agreeing that we are at war with terrorism--the efforts of other members of the Obama Administration, including the President, to try to retire the "war on terror" rhetoric notwithstanding.

Best to stand clear of the heads of various people on the other side of the partisan divide, as those heads are likely exploding as I type this.