One of Osama Bin Laden's greatest successes has been to spur the Bush Administration into curtailing those very freedoms he supposedly "hates". Front and center is Jose Padilla, a gang-banger and apparently unsavory character. Yet, despite administration assertions that he's a terrorist, they continue to hold him sans charges or lawyers.

Talkleft brings us the latest updates on the case, and slams the administration for its ad hoc approach to justice (and, by extension, the Constitution):

The Administration's treatment of suspects since September 11 has no consistency. They make up the rules as they go along. Padilla and Yaser Hamdi are citizens who are detained without rights as "enemy combatants." John Walker Lindh, the Buffalo Six, the Detroit Four, James Ujaama, Zacarias Moussaoui and accused "shoe-bomber" Richard Reid have been processed in the federal criminal courts and are receiving the due process and other rights required by our system of justice.

We fail to see any rational distinction between Padilla and Hamdi and the others. We commend the Government for charging the others in federal courts, and think it should reconsider its unjust and unequal treatment of Padilla and Hamdi.