[wvns] High court to hear Guantanamo detainee cases
Justices reverse course, agree to review issue of challenging confinement
High court to hear Guantanamo detainee cases
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19503391/#storyContinued
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review whether Guantanamo Bay
detainees may go to federal court to challenge their indefinite
confinement. MSNBC's Chris Jansing reports.
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court, reversing course, agreed Friday to
review whether Guantanamo Bay detainees may go to federal court to
challenge their indefinite confinement.
The action, announced without comment along with other end-of-term
orders, is a setback for the Bush administration. It had argued that a
new law strips courts of their jurisdiction to hear detainee cases.
In April, the court turned down an identical request, although several
justices indicated they could be persuaded otherwise.
The move is highly unusual.
The court did not indicate what changed the justices' minds about
considering the issue. But last week, lawyers for the detainees filed
a statement from a military lawyer in which he described the
inadequacy of the process the administration has put forward as an
alternative to a full-blown review by civilian courts.
The White House continued to back its legal stance.
"We did not think that court review at this time was necessary, but we
are confident in our legal position," said Gordon Johndroe, a
spokesman for the National Security Council, said Thursday.
The White House continued to back its legal stance.
"We did not think that court review at this time was necessary, but we
are confident in our legal position," said Gordon Johndroe, a
spokesman for the National Security Council.
`A stunning victory'
"This is a stunning victory for the detainees," said Eric M. Freedman,
professor of constitutional law at Hofstra Law School, who has been
advising the detainees. "It goes well beyond what we asked for, and
clearly indicates the unease up there" at the Supreme Court.
In February, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of
Columbia upheld a key provision of a law the Bush administration
pushed through Congress last year stripping federal courts of their
ability to hear the detainees' challenges to their confinement.
On April 2, the Supreme denied the detainees' request to review the
February appeals court ruling.
The detainees then petitioned the court to reconsider its denial.
Dismissing the petitions would be "a profound deprivation" of the
prisoners' right to speedy court review, lawyers for the detainees said.
The administration asked that the detainees' Supreme Court petitions
be thrown out.
Many of the 375 detainees have been held at Guantanamo for five years.
In recent months, the main arena in the legal battle over the
detainees has been the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District
of Columbia.
`The highest level of deference'
The appeals court is considering how to handle the detainees'
challenges to military tribunals that found them to be enemy
combatants, which left them without any of the legal rights accorded
prisoners of war.
The White House is considering closing Guantanamo and transferring
some of the most dangerous suspects to a prison at Fort Leavenworth,
Kan., and a Navy brig in South Carolina.
The detainees' attorneys want the appeals court to allow a broad
inquiry questioning the accuracy and completeness of the evidence the
tribunals gathered about the detainees, most of it classified.
The Justice Department has been seeking a limited review, saying that
the findings of the military tribunals are "entitled to the highest
level of deference."
The White House has been weighing closing the Guantanamo Bay prison,
which has brought global criticism of the Bush administration and
condemnation from Democrats on Capitol Hill.
The cases are Boumediene v. Bush, 06-1195, and Al Odah v. U.S., 06-1196.
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