Re: Supreme Court Rules Gitmo Military Tribunals violate US and International law
- From: "John P. Mullen" <jomullen@xxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 19:36:36 -0600
hal wrote:
"Vince" <firelaw@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:JsudnedlO-6ZdD7ZnZ2dnUVZ_q6dnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
High Court Rules Out Tribunals for Gitmo DetaineesFrom Associated Press
7:44 AM PDT, June 29, 2006
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled today that President Bush overstepped his authority in ordering military war crimes trials for Guantanamo Bay detainees.
The ruling, a rebuke to the administration and its aggressive anti-terror policies, was written by Justice John Paul Stevens, who said the proposed trials were illegal under U.S. law and international Geneva conventions.
The case focused on Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni who worked as a bodyguard and driver for Osama bin Laden. Hamdan, 36, has spent four years in the U.S. prison in Cuba. He faces a single count of conspiring against U.S. citizens from 1996 to November 2001.
Two years ago, the court rejected Bush's claim to have the authority to seize and detain terrorism suspects and indefinitely deny them access to courts or lawyers. In this follow-up case, the justices focused solely on the issue of trials for some of the men.
The vote was split 5-3, with moderate Justice Anthony M. Kennedy joining the court's liberal members in ruling against the Bush administration. Chief Justice John Roberts, named to the lead the court last September by Bush, was sidelined in the case because as an appeals court judge he had backed the government over Hamdan.
Today's ruling overturned that decision.
Bush spokesman Tony Snow said the White House would have no comment until lawyers had had a chance to review the decision. Officials at the Pentagon and Justice Department were planning to issue statements later in the day.
The administration had hinted in recent weeks that it was prepared for the court to set back its plans for trying Guantanamo detainees.
The president also has told reporters, "I'd like to close Guantanamo." But he added, "I also recognize that we're holding some people that are darn dangerous."
The court's ruling says nothing about whether the prison should be shut down, dealing only with plans to put detainees on trial.
So now they are simply serving a defacto life sentence, or until the ceasation of hostilities
<snicker>
Jim E
Not really.
The 350 or so detainees at Gitmo that the administration has admitted do not belong there are so because the Pentagon has not figured out how to let them go. In short, even if all hostilities ended tomorrow, these 350+ people will probably spend the rest of their lives in detention for the crime of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
John Mullen
.
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