via LewRockwell.com Blog by Daniel McCarthy on 6/24/08

In his Boumediene dissent, which warned that the decision to grant habeas corpus to Guantanamo detainees “will almost certainly cause more Americans to be killed,” Antonin Scalia claimed that “At least 30 of those prisoners hitherto released from Guantanamo have returned to the battlefield.” Scary, huh? But it’s not true: Seton Hall Law Center has put out a report showing that not even the Department of Defense, which dreamed up that number, stands by it. But why let facts get in the way of a little judicial fearmongering?

Ok, the fake numbers are pretty disgraceful to begin with. My problem, however, is with the use of numbers in the first place. I haven’t read a whole lot of dissents (although I do a lot of dissenting) but my understanding of law is that one does not decide the merits of a case by what might happen should one decide a certain way. It should be decided based upon the law. Strange concept, but I figured I’d put it across.