Constitutional Law

Obama Team Considering Future of Military Tribunals and Bush Executive Orders

President-elect Barack Obama’s advisers are contemplating plans to shutter the military prison and tribunals at Guantanamo Bay and reversing executive orders issued by the Bush administration. According to The Associated Press the plans on Guantanamo Bay suggest that some detainees would be released, others tried in U.S. courts and some tried in a hybrid military type of court. Laurence Tribe, a Harvard law professor and Obama adviser, told the AP that the new administration would consider existing venues before creating a new legal system. “It would have to be some sort of hybrid that involves military commissions that actually administer justice rather than just serve as kangaroo courts,” he said. “It will have to both be and appear to be fundamentally fair in light of the circumstances.” Tribe added that the Obama administration would move quickly on the matter. “In reality and symbolically, the idea that we have people in legal black holes is an extremely serious black mark,” Tribe said. “It has to be dealt with.”

The New York Times also reported that members of Obama’s transition team are considering reversing a raft of Bush administration executive orders, such as those limiting stem cell research and expanding drilling for natural resources.

Full post as published by ACS Blog on November 10, 2008 (boomark / email).