Supreme Court Rules for Navy in Sonar Case

[groovedaddy]

WASHINGTON — Courts must be wary of second-guessing the military’s considered judgments, the Supreme Court said Wednesday in lifting judicial restrictions on submarine training exercises off the coast of Southern California that may harm marine mammals.

In balancing military preparedness against environmental concerns, the majority came down solidly on the side of national security.

“The lower courts failed properly to defer to senior Navy officers’ specific, predictive judgments,” Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., joined by four other justices, wrote for the court in the first decision of the term.

For the environmental groups that sought to limit the exercises, Chief Justice Roberts wrote, “the most serious possible injury would be harm to an unknown number of marine mammals that they study and observe.” By contrast, he continued, “forcing the Navy to deploy an inadequately trained antisubmarine force jeopardizes the safety of the fleet.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/washington/13scotus.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

[Tumbulu]

1. this makes my heart break

torture everyone and everything, that is all these people want to do.

[amitten]

2. Crap. n/t

[snappyturtle]

3. of course. Did we expect anything different? nt