Litigation

Detainee Updates

By Charlie Hall

A federal court has dismissed 105 habeas corpus claims of former Guantanamo detainees, saying the cases are now moot because the detainees have been transferred to other countries.

A story on the ruling by U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan is available at Jurist Legal News and Research. Judge Hogan said the detainees could not demonstrate “collateral consequences,” that is, current suffering caused by their Guantanamo imprisonment, that can be redressed by federal courts.

The issues of civil liberties and national security also were the focus of two written commentaries.

Virginia Sloan (photo), president of the Constitution Project, a Justice at Stake partner, also argued in a commentary that terror suspects should be tried in federal courts, not by military commissions. She added that there is strong bipartisan support for using civilian courts, as demontrated by the group’s Beyond Guantanamo initiative:

For far too long, the national debate around how and where to try suspected terrorists now held at Guantanamo has been incorrectly framed as a partisan dispute. It is simply wrong to believe that the national security debate has to pit Democrats against Republicans, and conservatives against progressives. Beyond Guantanamo is an example of policy experts from across the political spectrum who have come together to support federal court prosecutions for suspected terrorists and to oppose any policy of indefinite detention without charge.

And a Miami Herald editorial called for an end to military commissions, saying federal courts should try terrorism cases:

 “The tribunals have a poor track record — only three convictions, with two still under appeal. Meanwhile, prosecutors have obtained more than 300 terrorism-related convictions in federal court since 9/11. … The tribunals should be shut down and the administration should rely on courts that have repeatedly proven they can handle terrorism suspects. It is the only way to uphold the cherished American values that foreign terrorists despise.”

To learn more, click on Gavel Grab stories regarding detainees, or see JAS’s web page, Civil Liberties and National Security.

Full post as published by The Gavel on April 05, 2010 (boomark / email).