2 July 2008

Court cites Lewis Carroll as precedent


It's not often you hear Carroll's 'The Hunting of the Snark' quoted in open court, but it's a habit that should be encouraged.

An American federal appeals court found that accusations against a Guantanamo Bay detainee who had been held for more than six years were based on slim, unverifiable claims, the New York Times reports. A three-judge panel said the government was affectively contending that its accusations against the man should be accepted because they had been repeated in at least three secret documents.

The court compared that to the declaration by the Bellman in Lewis Carroll's 'Snark': "I have said it thrice: What I tell you three times is true."

The Justice Department declined to comment. It is known, however, what Lewis Carroll would have thought.

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