The New York Times | Commander Swift Objects

"But Swift has been energetic in his defense, to say the least. In January, he and his colleagues filed an incendiary friend-of-the-court brief with the Supreme Court in which, among other things, they compared their commander in chief, President Bush, to the villain of the American Revolution, King George III. In April, Swift went even further, suing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Bush in federal court in Seattle on the grounds that their plan for a military tribunal for his client -- who has still not been charged or given a trial date -- violates the Constitution, federal law, the Geneva Conventions and the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

When Swift was first assigned to the defense team a little more than a year ago, not even someone who calls himself ''pretty anti-authoritarian for a military guy'' could have imagined this turn of events. ''Generally speaking,'' he said, ''if the United States is paying your salary, you're not supposed to sue them.'' "

One might wonder whether Swift watched or watches the TV series JAG. In any event, Our Man Swift, that I've blogged before, is a reminder that Americans who believe in the US Constitution are everywhere.

Rather than calling Swift "anti-authoritarian", how 'bout admitting that he takes his authority from "the top", from the "founding fathers". Like Archibald Cox, Swift is asking whether the US will be a country of "laws and not of men".