Text 28086, 107 rader
Skriven 2007-04-02 19:09:00 av Jeff Binkley (1:226/600)
Ärende: Gitmo
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Note how the democrats support these terrorists.

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http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8O8MIE02&show_article=1

Court Nixes Guantanamo Detainees' Appeal  
 
Apr 2 04:35 PM US/Eastern
By PETE YOST
Associated Press Writer 

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court on Monday declined for now to review 
whether Guantanamo Bay detainees may go to federal court to challenge 
their indefinite confinement. Several justices made clear they will be 
sympathetic to further requests from the detainees. 

Some of the roughly 385 prisoners have been held at the U.S. naval base 
in Cuba for more than five years. None has yet had a hearing in a 
civilian court challenging his detention, even though two earlier 
Supreme Court rulings extended legal protection to them. 

At issue is whether those at Guantanamo have a right to habeas corpus 
review, a tenet of the Constitution that protects people from unlawful 
imprisonment. 

In February, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of 
Columbia upheld a key provision of a law the Bush administration pushed 
through Congress last year stripping federal courts of their ability to 
hear such challenges. 

Three justices said they wanted to intervene immediately in the matter 
and two other justices said they might vote to do so later. It takes 
four votes among the nine justices to accept a case. 

"Despite the obvious importance" of the cases, it would be premature to 
intervene, wrote Justices John Paul Stevens and Anthony Kennedy wrote. 

If the detainees' legal position is ultimately upheld, hearing their 
cases now might have avoided an additional year or more of imprisonment, 
wrote Justice Stephen Breyer, dissenting from the decision not to 
revisit the issue. He was joined by Justices David Souter and Ruth Bader 
Ginsburg. Breyer and Souter said they would have heard the case on a 
fast track, as the detainees requested. 

"This is a perfect example of justice delayed is justice denied," said 
Washington lawyer Tom Wilner, who has represented Guantanamo detainees 
since May 2002. "All these people ever wanted was a fair hearing." 
Wilner represents a group of 39 detainees who had asked the court to 
take the case. 

The same appeals court that ruled in February against the detainees will 
now review the work of military panels that have found each of the 
detainees to be an enemy combatant. 

The Supreme Court is likely to be faced with the same cases it rejected 
Monday once the appeals court begins conducting reviews. 

"I think that, on first glance, we're very pleased with the decision," 
said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino. 

The Bush administration argues that because of changes in the law since 
2004 there is no need for the justices to hurry. Congress has authorized 
military hearings to assess whether the prisoners are being properly 
detained as enemy combatants. Those decisions can be appealed in a 
limited fashion to the appeals court. 

U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, the same court that ruled in 
the administration's favor in February. 

At the Pentagon, Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon said Guantanamo is reserved 
for "the most egregious terror suspects." 

However, only 10 have been charged with a crime. 

"We're disappointed and for us this is a delay that is unconscionable," 
said Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, 
which has led the fight to gain court access for the detainees. 

Ratner said that in enacting the Detainee Treatment Act, Congress "rips 
out the heart" of court access "and now the court says 'let's wait.' 
That's another year of delay." 

Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., called the court's refusal to hear the case 
"misguided" and said it highlights the urgency for congressional action. 
He said basic rights must be restored to the detainees and the Geneva 
Conventions must be adhered to. 

Former military officers, diplomats and federal judges joined the 
detainees in urging the court to take prompt action. The court "held in 
no uncertain terms that the Guantanamo detainees were entitled to habeas 
corpus review to challenge the lawfulness of their detention," they said 
in their supporting brief. "But since that decision in June the court's 
mandate has been frustrated and not a single detainee has had a habeas 
hearing in federal court." Bipartisan proposals already have been 
introduced in the Democratic-led Congress to rewrite the 2006 law that 
swept away the detainees' access to U.S. courts. It was enacted by the 
then-GOP majority at the request of the White House. 

The cases are Al Odah v. USA, 06-1196, and Boumediene v. Bush, 06- 1195. 

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