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Appeal Court Denies Detainees Habeus Corpus for Gitmo detainees
Time
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1591820,00.html
Court Denies Detainees Habeus Corpus
By Adam Zagorin/Washington
A federal appeals court in Washington Tuesday upheld a key provision of a controversial anti-terrorism law signed by President Bush last year that removed the rights of Guantanamo prisoners to challenge their detention before U.S. courts. Known as the Military Commissions Act, the law permits the US to indefinitely detain foreigners designated as "enemy combatants" and also allows the use aggressive but unspecified interrogation techniques.
The court ruling, which amounts to a significant victory for the Bush administration, came in a 2 to 1 decision of the three-judge appeals panel, and impacts hundreds of cases waiting to be heard. It also sets the stage for an appeal to the Supreme Court by Gitmo prisoners, as well as likely attempts in Congress to pass new legislation expressly approving habeas corpus rights for those detained at the Cuban base.
Indeed Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, has already indicated he will step up his bid on behalf of a bill that would restore detainees' legal rights. Such a bill, introduced by Leahy and then-Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., narrowly failed to pass last year.
American citizens and foreigners incarcerated inside the US have the right under most circumstances to challenge their detention before a judge. But the Justice Department has argued that foreign "enemy combatants" held outside the US do not enjoy this constitutional protection even though the Guantanamo base is under full US control — an argument the court accepted.
"Federal courts have no jurisdiction in these cases," Judge A. Raymond Randolph wrote for the court majority in a 25-page opinion issued today. He added that arguments to the contrary were, "creative but not cogent."
But judge Judith Rogers, who was appointed to the federal bench by President Bill Clinton, dissented from the majority, declaring in a minority opinion that the suspension of habeas corpus for Guantanamo prisoners — in a law President Bush signed last year — was unconstitutional, and also violated long-established US legal principles.
The latest ruling is part of a protracted court battle pitting President Bush against human rights advocates who have accused his administration of permitting inhumane treatment of prisoners in Iraq, Guantanamo and secret US prisons around the world. After the U.S. Supreme Court declared the military tribunal system created by President Bush unconstitutional, the President asked Congress to give him new authority under a new law, known as the Military Commissions Act, which was signed in October.
"We must now look to Congress and the Supreme Court to restore this fundamental American right, the right of habeas corpus, which allows prisoners to challenge their detention," said Marc Falkoff, a legal advisor to prisoners and a professor at Northern Illinois University College of Law.
"Habeas corpus is a right that was enshrined in the Magna Carta to prevent kings from indefinitely and arbitrarily detaining anyone they chose," added Vincent Warren, executive-director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, a non-profit legal foundation that is also party to the case.
At the moment, there are some 395 detainees at Guantanamo Bay, including some who arrived there five years ago, shortly after 9/11.
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2/20/2007, 2:08 pm
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Re: Appeal Court Denies Detainees Habeus Corpus for Gitmo detainees
Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16741636.htm
Posted on Tue, Feb. 20, 2007
Reaction to Guantánamo appeals court ruling
A roundup of reaction to today's court ruling upholding an act of Congress that stripped Guantánamo Bay captives of the right to challenge their detention in lower federal courts.
• Justice Department spokesman Erik Ablin:
``We are pleased with the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upholding the constitutionality of the Military Commissions Act (MCA) and dismissing the consolidated Guantánamo detainee cases for lack of jurisdiction. The decision reaffirms the validity of the framework that Congress established in the MCA permitting Guantánamo detainees to challenge their detention through combatant status review tribunals with the opportunity for judicial review before the D.C. Circuit.''
• Hina Shamsi, deputy director of Human Rights First's Law and Security Program:
``The ruling by the Court of Appeals runs counter to one of the most important checks on unbridled executive power enshrined in the U.S. Constitution: the right to challenge imprisonment in a full and fair proceeding. If allowed to stand, this ruling would permit the government to hold prisoners, potentially indefinitely, without having to show to a court of law why the person has been detained.
``As the dissenting opinion correctly argues, Congress may suspend the writ of habeas corpus only in times of rebellion or invasion, the most grave national emergencies. U.S. courts are well able to decide detention cases that raise both national security and individual liberties concerns.''
• Center for Constitutional Rights legal director Bill Goodman:
``We call on the legal profession and all Americans concerned about the loss of liberty undertaken by the Bush administration and now rubber stamped by the Court of Appeals to join with us in taking this fight to the United States Supreme Court. We call on Congress to take up the fight that the American people sent you to Washington to wage, to quickly enact legislation that will begin the process of restoring our most fundamental rights.''
• White House spokesman Tony Snow:
``The court decided with the position that we put forward, but I don't want to try to get into any extended legal analysis of this. Our guys are reading through the opinion and I'll probably have more tomorrow.''
• Larry Cox, executive director, Amnesty International USA:
``It is unconscionable that these men are denied the most basic right to challenge their detention. If today's decision is allowed to stand, it will join the ranks of cases like Korematsu and Dredd Scott, which are widely recognized as shameful moments in U.S. jurisprudence. Immediate action must be taken to invalidate this appalling decision. It's time for Congress to reverse the damage caused by the Military Commissions Act and the Bush administration's policies.''
• David Cynamon, attorney for the Kuwaiti detainees at Guantánamo:
'I and the other attorneys working for justice in Guantánamo Bay are deeply disappointed in the U.S. Court of Appeals' decision to deny our clients the right to challenge their detentions in the U.S. court system. We look forward to bringing this issue before the Supreme Court where we expect the court to again uphold the fundamental right of habeas corpus as it has done in the cases of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld and Rasul v. Bush. Today's ruling also underscores the importance and urgency of Congress' efforts to repeal the Military Commissions Act and to restore the age-old right of due process to the detainees.''
Compiled by Miami Herald staff writer Carol Rosenberg.
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2/20/2007, 2:10 pm
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