Court backs Gitmo detainees

12 June 2008

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by James Oliphant

In a body-blow to the Bush administration's anti-terrorism policies, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday that prisoners held at the Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba have a constitutional right to challenge their detentions in civilian federal courts.

The administration had argued that the military commission system set up by the Pentagon to try suspected terrorists provided enough to satisfy constitutional requirements. The court Thursday disagreed, introducing an element of uncertainty into what happens next regarding the 270 or so remaining detainees held at Guantanamo.

The 5-4 decision was written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, who was always believed to be the crucial swing vote in the case. Chief Justice John Roberts dissented on behalf of the conservative members of the court, Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.

"The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times," Kennedy wrote.

The rebuke of the administration was its third loss before the court on issues relating to the detainees, some of whom have been held in the prisons since 2002 without charges, and this time, the court seemed to emphatically say enough was enough. The court first ruled in 2004 that detainees had the right of habeas corpus--the ability to challenge the basis for an extended detention beyond the normal criminal appeals process--by finding that the federal habeas statute granted them those rights.

Congress responded by passing an act that stripped away those statutory rights. The cases decided Thursday reviewed that act and found that Congress' act was invalid for constitutional reasons, saying that Congress can only suspend habeas in incidences of rebellion or invasion.

"The Supreme Court has finally brought an end to one of our nation's most egregious injustices," said Vincent Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, the public interest group that brought suit on behalf of 37 detainees in the case. "It has finally given the men held at Guantánamo the justice that they have long deserved. By granting the writ of habeas corpus, the Supreme Court recognizes a rule of law established hundreds of years ago and essential to American jurisprudence since our nation's founding. This six-year-long nightmare is a lesson in how fragile our constitutional protections truly are in the hands of an overzealous executive."

Said Kathryn Kolbert, president of the liberal advocacy group People For the American Way: "The Supreme Court has rebuked President Bush's vision of the presidency as an office of limitless power, and declared that the president of a free nation cannot simply lock people up and throw away the key like some third-world dictator. This is a stinging blow to the administration's lawless policies and its allies in Congress."

The court also said that the appeals system set up by the congressional act, which gave detainees the right to a limited appeal to the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., was an inadequate substitute for habeas corpus rights.

Roberts in dissent embraced the government's argument in the case, saying the detainees had been given "the most generous set of procedural protections ever afforded aliens detained by this country as enemy combatants."

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Bush disagrees with court's Guantanamo ruling

By DEB RIECHMANN

President Bush on Thursday strongly disagreed with a Supreme Court ruling that clears foreign terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay to challenge their detention in U.S. civilian courts. Bush suggested new legislation may now be needed to keep the American people safe.

"We'll abide by the court's decision," Bush said during a news conference in Rome. "That doesn't mean I have to agree with it." The court's decision was sure to be popular in Europe, where many leaders have called for the closing of Guantanamo.

In its third rebuke of the Bush administration's treatment of prisoners, the court ruled 5-4 that the government is violating the rights of prisoners being held indefinitely and without charges at the U.S. naval base in Cuba. The court's liberal justices were in the majority.

"It was a deeply divided court, and I strongly agree with those who dissented," Bush said. "And that dissent was based upon their serious concerns about U.S. national security."

Bush said his administration will study the ruling. "We'll do this with this in mind — to determine whether or not additional legislation might be appropriate so we can safely say to the American people, 'We're doing everything we can to protect you.'"

The president, meeting with allies in a farewell tour of Europe, was reminded again that his time in office is fleeting. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was asked which U.S. president he would like to see next — Sen. John McCain of Arizona or Democratic Sen. Barack Obama.

"I suppose I could express my own personal preference for one of the candidates, the Republican candidate," Berlusconi said. "And this is for a very selfish reason, and that is that I would no longer be the oldest person at the upcoming G-8 (meeting) because McCain is a month older than me." McCain is 71.

On soaring oil prices, the president made clear that the United States would send a high-level official to a summit recently announced by Saudi Arabia. The upcoming meeting is designed to gather oil producing countries and consumer nations. Bush made clear he would not be the one attending.

The Saudis are concerned that sustained high oil prices will eventually slacken the world's appetite for oil, affecting them in the long run. Saudi Arabia holds the world's largest oil reserve.

"The prices of gas are high and the American people don't like it and I can understand why they don't like it," Bush said.

"I said it's an interesting idea, I need to get home and study it," Bush said of the oil summit. "We'll send someone high-level here."

Bush's trip, which stretches from Slovenia to Northern Ireland, has largely been dominated by the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran. He has also confronted matters of climate change, Mideast peace and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

But he made a point to show those watching and listening in the U.S. that he was not overlooking the devastating weather that has hit back home.

In an opening statement at the news conference, Bush said, "My thoughts and prayers are with the victims of the terrible tornadoes and flooding, especially those who've lost loved ones. We've been inspired by the stories of heroism, neighbors helping neighbors and communities coming together. It's a really tough time for the people in the midwestern part of the United States and they'll have the prayers of the American people."

Bush praised Italy for committing troops to trouble spots around the world, including more than 2,000 Italian troops toward the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan. Italy, along with Germany, France and Spain, have restricted their troops to less dangerous areas in northern Afghanistan — and that has caused a rift because other NATO members are deployed in the more violent regions of the nation.

Berlusconi said during the news conference that he and Bush had discussed his government's willingness to lift some restrictions, and in fact his government is taking steps to give Italian forces more flexibility that could mean temporary deployments in more volatile areas. Based on assurances from the Italians, Bush stated flatly that he was pleased to learn that "the caveats that have restricted your forces in Afghanistan have been removed."

Unlike other European leaders, such as former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and former French President Jacques Chirac, Berlusconi supported Bush on Iraq from the start. The 71-year-old media mogul defied domestic opposition and dispatched about 3,000 troops to Iraq after the fall of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Those troops came home, and Berlusconi, recently elected to his third stint in power since 1994, has pledged not to send any back.