Surprising Supreme Court Ruling Favors Guantanamo Bay Prisoners
originally posted 2008-06-12 06:58:30 -- bumped. Check out the McClatchy video of the detainees in the link Standingup provides below... chilling. If you think Guantanamo can be justified on the basis that it makes America safer, this video is definitely worth watching - cho
This might be one of the most encouraging news items in years. The U.S. Supreme Court handed down a ruling that Guantanamo Bay prisoners have a constitutional right to habeas corpus. McClatchy Washington Bureau reports:
A sharply divided Supreme Court on Thursday ruled Guantanamo Bay detainees have the right to challenge their extended imprisonment in federal court, and struck down as inadequate an alternative review system set up by Congress.
Repudiating a key tenet of the Bush administration’s war-on-terror policy, the court’s 5-4 majority concluded the foreigners held in Guantanamo Bay retain the same habeas corpus rights as U.S. residents.
We can hope this decision will be the first of rulings and other actions that begin to bring our nation back into line with our founding principles and that important document know as the constitution.
Also just released by McClatchy, a new video report, Beyond the Law:
McClatchy reporters spent eight months traveling to 11 countries, interviewing 66 former U.S. military detainees about their experiences in detention systems at Guantanamo and in Afghanistan.
Comments
susie dow
June 12, 2008 - 19:41
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11 year old child
Pretty much once I found out that an 11 year old child was being held at Guantanamo, any possible justification for the place went out the window.
If our laws mean anything, then they should be tested and used by trying the men held at Guantanamo in an American court. Which means, that Guantanamo itself has no purpose.
rba
June 12, 2008 - 20:32
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Comments @ DOJ
From McClatchy's Nukes 'n Spooks blog [Marisa Taylor + Nancy Youssef]:
cho
June 12, 2008 - 21:07
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Thanks for the link, rba
I found the Department of Justice's response every bit as chilling as the McClatchy video interviews of the detainees.
In the video Standingup links to, many of those who were held and beaten, were in fact, those who helping the Americans in Afghanistan. But the DOJ waves its magic "enemy combatant" phrase three times and makes their public relations nightmare disappear.... for the time being.