Is conservatism

(a) Agreeing with anything President Bush says, or

(b) Upholding eternal verities and practices that have proven their worth over time?

Too many these days seem to think the answer is (a). It ain’t. And if the answer is (b), then the ACLU is not out of bounds to call itself in a recent ad “the most conservative organization in America” for opposing the Military Commissions Act of 2006.

That act, so eagerly sought by the Bush administration, weakens the constitutional guarantee of habeas corpus—a right whose recognition in common law goes back to before the Magna Carta of 1215. The ease with which some Republicans have been willing to cast aside almost eight centuries of legal tradition can be called many things, but it cannot be called “conservative.“