For almost a decade and a half, the people behind the Bush administration's shameful treatment of terrorism suspects have avoided punishment for their crimes.
But that may be about to change.
The courts have had their say and have ruled that former Bush administration officials can, in fact, be sued for how they conducted the War on Terror.
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals made that pretty much official on Friday when it refused to hear a challenge to its earlier ruling in the case of Turkmen v. Ashcroft.
That case involves hundreds of Arab, Muslim or South Asian men who were detained and then abused by our government in the weeks following 9/11.
Some of them were beaten by security guards and kept in solitary confinement, which the United Nations considers a form of torture.
After they were released, these men sued the people they say authorized their detentions, people like former Attorney General John Ashcroft and former FBI director Robert Mueller.
A district court initially blocked their claims, but in June the Second Circuit Court allowed them, saying that Ashcroft, Mueller, and company could be sued.
The government then made one more last ditch push to protect the Bushies, but that Hail Mary effort failed on Friday when the Second Circuit rejected it.
Everyone else who authorized and participated in the illegal roundup of hundreds of innocent men after 9/11, from high-up government officials on down, is now fair game for a lawsuit.
This is great news.
