Juries, who needs them?

A recent case from the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals caught my attention because it demonstrates a dangerous political trend in the supposedly apolitical judicial system. A Hispanic employee was fired by a company after he agreed to a managerial promotion provided he could return to his old job if his 90 day trial was not satisfactory. The company eliminated his position in a reorganization during the period. All other supervisors were white. The company refused to allow the Hispanic to go back to his old job as agreed on grounds that his performance as a supervisor was not satisfactory despite the fact he received a promotion during the trial period. The employee sued the company for discriminating against him because of race.
Summary judgment is a procedure designed to remove cases from the docket that do not have legal merit. Generally, obtaining summary judgment against a case means that there are no factual issues in dispute and that the case can be decided as a matter of law. Even a lay person can see that in this case there were unresolved factual issues that should have been resolved by a jury as the trier of fact. To mention a few as examples: was the employer's claim of substandard performance as cause for termination just a pretext for discrimination?; was there an actual agreement to allow the employee to return to his old job?; was the agreement violated by the employer?
The majority granting summary judgment in the were all Bush or Regan appointees. The chief judge of the circuit said in dissent, "too many courts in this circuit ...are utilizing summary judgment...where issues of fact remain".
The same proclivity to deny access to justice by political conservatives can also be seen at the international level. Despite guarantees in the Third Geneva Convention that detainees are entitled to fair trials, the Bush regime is seeking to deny "enemy combatants" access to civilian courts through habeas proceedings. Not all persons incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay are bona fide jihadists bent on the destruction of the "Great Satan". Military commissions, in the their zeal to protect the homeland, will make gross errors amounting to injustice. There should be an appeal procedure to civilian courts available to those incarcerated in a land of legal limbo.