Justices Hear Arguments in Guantánamo Cases
By DAVID STOUT
New York Times
WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 — A lawyer for six detainees held at the Guantánamo Bay naval base in Cuba and the chief lawyer for the Bush administration waged a spirited argument before the Supreme Court today on whether the detainees have adequate means to challenge their captivity.
The prisoners “have been held in isolation for six years” and, in some cases, “plucked from their wives and children,” Seth P. Waxman, a lawyer for some of the prisoners, told the justices. Although he did not say it in so many words, he was arguing implicitly that their treatment is contrary to basic precepts of American justice.
But Paul D. Clement, the solicitor-general for the Bush administration, said that detainees at the base (just over 300 by a recent count) have all the rights they need, and all they are entitled to.
“Congress has spoken,” Mr. Clement said, referring to the Military Commissions Act of 2006, which authorizes military commissions to try the detainees and blocks them from challenging their detention before federal judges through what are known as habeas corpus proceedings.
The treatment of the detainees reflects “the best effort of the political branches, both political branches, to prosecute the war on terror,” Mr. Clement said.
After demurring at first, the justices agreed in June to take up the issue following criticism of the combatant status-review tribunals that were set up to handle the prisoners’ cases. The consolidated cases heard today were Boumediene v. Bush, No. 06-1195, and Al Odah v. U.S., 06-1196. The justices scheduled an hour for the case and let the time run 20 minutes beyond it.
(Continued here.)
New York Times
WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 — A lawyer for six detainees held at the Guantánamo Bay naval base in Cuba and the chief lawyer for the Bush administration waged a spirited argument before the Supreme Court today on whether the detainees have adequate means to challenge their captivity.
The prisoners “have been held in isolation for six years” and, in some cases, “plucked from their wives and children,” Seth P. Waxman, a lawyer for some of the prisoners, told the justices. Although he did not say it in so many words, he was arguing implicitly that their treatment is contrary to basic precepts of American justice.
But Paul D. Clement, the solicitor-general for the Bush administration, said that detainees at the base (just over 300 by a recent count) have all the rights they need, and all they are entitled to.
“Congress has spoken,” Mr. Clement said, referring to the Military Commissions Act of 2006, which authorizes military commissions to try the detainees and blocks them from challenging their detention before federal judges through what are known as habeas corpus proceedings.
The treatment of the detainees reflects “the best effort of the political branches, both political branches, to prosecute the war on terror,” Mr. Clement said.
After demurring at first, the justices agreed in June to take up the issue following criticism of the combatant status-review tribunals that were set up to handle the prisoners’ cases. The consolidated cases heard today were Boumediene v. Bush, No. 06-1195, and Al Odah v. U.S., 06-1196. The justices scheduled an hour for the case and let the time run 20 minutes beyond it.
(Continued here.)
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