Litigation

Debate Continues Over Detainee Policies

By Peter Hardin

Despite the Obama administration’s decision to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay and move a number of detainees to a facility in Illinois, the debate continues over how to best protect civil liberties in a time of danger.

According to a Tribune Newspapers article, the multi-pronged policy taking shape under the Obama administration “bears a striking similarity to that of the final year of George W. Bush’s presidency.” The article offers an even-handed examination of the issues at stake in the way the government has held and chosen to try terror suspects.

In the Huffington Post, Jonathan Hafetz, an attorney with the  the ACLU, and Mark P. Denbeaux, a professor at Seton Hall Law School, say the Illinois transfer plan “will do little to end the unlawful detention system Guantanamo embodies.”

From a different vantage point, The Corner blog of National Review commends a New York Times column that urges Congress to craft a coherent policy for handling terror detainees. Gavel Grab highlighted the column earlier.

Meanwhile, a New York Times article suggests that it may be 2011 before the Guantanamo Bay facility is closed, and its prisoners are transferred. You can read more about detainee issues from Gavel Grab, or Justice at Stake’s publication “Courting Danger” outlining the difficulty in preserving constitutional liberties while increasing preparedness for future acts of terror. The JAS site also has a web page on Civil Liberties and National Security.

Full post as published by The Gavel on December 23, 2009 (boomark / email).