It's been 'Settled'

Judge Benjamin Settle of the United States District Court (best.name.for.a.judge. ever and possibly a new meaning of the verb*) ) issued a preliminary injunction in favor of Lt. Ehren Watada. While not over, this victory greatly increases Lt. Watada's chances of a positive outcome for his case.

“. . . This case concerns an alleged violation of the Fifth Amendment Double Jeopardy Clause, which cannot be said to fall within a set of affairs that are peculiar to the jurisdiction of the military authorities. . . . The same Fifth Amendment protections are in place for military service members as are afforded to civilians. . . . To hold otherwise would ignore the many sacrifices that American soldiers have made throughout history to protect those sacred rights." - Judge Benjamin Settle

At approximately 3:39 PM (PST), Nov 8, 2007, Judge Benjamin H. Settle of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington (sitting in Tacoma, WA) issued a Preliminary Injunction in favor of 1Lt Ehren Watada.

In his decision, Judge Settle made the following significant points:

1. The remedy sought by Lt Watada -- a writ of habeas corpus in a pretrial setting -- is rare but appropriate;

2. Lt Watada will suffer irreparable injury if relief is denied;

3. Lt Watada is likely to succeed on the merits;

4. Military Judge Head abused his discretion in rejecting the Stipulation of Fact;

5. Even if Judge Head did not abuse his discretion in rejecting the Stipulation of Fact, there was still a lack of "manifest necessity" for declaring the mistrial;

6. Judge Head failed to adequately consider possible alternatives;

7. The balance of potential harms weighs in Lt Watada's favor; and

8. The public interest favors granting relief.

Go over to Marc Lord's Adored by Hordes for the rest of the story. Marc has summed up Lt. Watada's actions like this:

It takes one kind of bravery to storm a machine-gun nest to save what's left of your comrades. It takes another to storm a hostile establishment to save what's left of a nation. A few people have both kinds. Thank you, Lieutenant Watada.

*Settled, verb:reversing an injustice done by the right-wing hate machine