Litigation

Keeping Score on Habeas Justice for Detainees

By Peter Hardin

How have detainees at Guantanamo Bay fared in their habeas corpus  appeals since a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year establishing that prisoners there may challenge their detention in U.S. courts?

You can track the numbers at a new Gitmo Habeas Scoreboard available from the Washington Independent. The latest tally is 32 legal victories by detainees and nine by the U.S. government.

Of course, there are more numbers that tell the nuances. Perhaps the most significant one is that of the 32 detainees to win an order of release, 11 still remain in prison. In some cases, the Washington Independent explains, the government declines to transfer–or can’t transfer–a prisoner back to his home country. In others, the U.S. government isn’t confident the home country’s government will keep a former detainee from signing up with terror groups.

The scoreboard offers a clickable way to learn more about individual cases. It was compiled drawing on data from Pro Publica, an online investigative news service, and from David Remes, legal director of Appeal for Justice.

In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Boumediene v. Bush that prisoners held in Guantanamo may challenge their detention in U.S. courts. You can learn more about issues affecting rights and trials of the detainees in earlier Gavel Grab posts here. To learn about protecting civil liberties in a time of danger, check out Justice at Stake?s issue page here.

Meanwhile, the Miami Herald reported on two of the most recent detainee cases in an article headlined, “Federal judge orders 32nd detainee freed from Guantanamo.”

Full post as published by The Gavel on December 17, 2009 (boomark / email).