[Ppnews] Guantanamo Global Justice Initiative on Supreme Court Ruling

[Political Prisoner News]

Comment by 
<http://ccrjustice.org/about-us/staff-board/kadidal,-shayana>Shayana 
Kadidal, Sr. Attorney, Guantanamo Global Justice Initiative

http://news.google.com/news?btcid=740f0d3fbe46928c

Six and a half years ago, we at the Center for 
Constitutional Rights brought the first case in 
federal court on behalf of detainees held at 
Guantanamo. At first, the administration 
successfully argued that the detainees were in a 
legal black hole, without any right of access to 
the federal courts to challenge whether they were 
lawfully held. Two years later, the Supreme Court 
ruled that our clients’ cases could go forward, 
but Congress attempted to overturn the decision 
with a pair of statutes, the Detainee Treatment 
Act and the Military Commissions Act.

Today, the Supreme Court ruled that the part of 
the Military Commissions Act that attempted to 
block the federal courts from hearing the claims 
of our clients at Guantánamo was unconstitutional.

Justice Kennedy, the opinion’s author, has a 
reputation for pragmatism, and it shows in 
today’s opinion, which is rooted in a sound 
practical sense. The decision today allows courts 
to do what they do best: to decide whether the 
government has the right to hold someone in 
detention, sorting out claims of factual innocence by weighing the evidence.

What will the next steps be? We hope that the 
lower courts will quickly move to hold hearings 
in the 200-odd pending individual habeas corpus 
cases where detainees are challenging their 
indefinite detention without charges. Of the 
roughly 770 men held at Guantánamo since the base 
opened, over 500 have been released; under 20 
have been charged. The military says it will only 
charge up to 80 with offenses to be tried by 
military commission. That leaves almost 200 men 
who the government has no intention of ever 
charging; without today’s decision they might 
have remained in detention forever without ever 
having a real chance to argue for their release 
before an impartial court. With habeas you never 
would have had these men – so many of whom have 
been officially cleared for release by the 
military – locked up and abused because no court 
was watching. We believe the majority of them 
will be released once the executive is forced to 
show up in front of a federal judge and justify 
their detention with hard evidence.

What will the implications be for the pending 
military commissions cases? I suspect the impact 
will be minimal. It is likely those trials will 
continue to progress at their current halting 
pace. Today’s opinion only means that the 
defendants in those commissions proceedings – the 
handful of men charged so far – may commence 
parallel proceedings arguing that they shouldn’t 
have ever been detained in the first place.

Other significant issues may be litigated as 
well: most detainees are being held in solitary 
confinement, including dozens who are cleared for 
release; most are losing their minds as a result. 
In habeas we should be able to argue for more 
humane conditions of confinement. Many detainees 
are cleared for release to countries where they 
may face torture; these men are basically in the 
position of refugees and countries that can offer 
them asylum will have to be found before they can be released.

Major General Jay Hood, former commander at 
Guantanamo, admitted to the Wall Street Journal 
that “[s]ometimes we just didn't get the right 
folks,” but innocents remain at the base because 
“[n]obody wants to be the one to sign the release 
papers. ... there's no muscle in the system.” The 
federal courts are supposed to be that muscle. 
Today’s decision ensures that they will be.

Ultimately, the administration’s strategy with 
Guantanamo was to run out the clock and leave its 
mess – much like the war in Iraq – to the next 
president to clean up. Today’s decision – a 
historic victory for executive accountability to 
the courts – will, we hope, prevent this administration from doing so.




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