pudge's Journal: Supreme Court Decides Something About Detainees

According to CNN, the Supreme Court ruled that "suspected terrorists and foreign fighters held by the U.S. military at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have the right to challenge their detention in federal court."

But this was already the case under the MCA of 2006, which amended the DTA of 2005 to the effect that anyone who was not an alien unlawful enemy combatant (AUEC) had access to the courts directly, and anyone who was given an AUEC status determination had the right to appeal that determination -- including on a factual basis, not just a procedural one -- in federal court.

I'm sure there's more to it than what CNN says, but unfortunately, the CNN headline and lead paragraph lead me (apparently falsely) to believe that the Supreme Court upheld the existing law.

The rest of the story doesn't really clarify matters. I don't have time to read the decision now, I'll get to it later.

Now Playing: Phil Keaggy - Epilogue/Amazing Grace

Cross-posted on <pudge/*>.

maybe a better explanation

[capoccia]

maybe a better explanation is here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/13/washington/12cnd-gitmo.html?ex=1371009600&en=b6c3093458455a18&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink [nytimes.com]

At issue were the "combatant status review tribunals," made up of military officers, that the administration set up to validate the initial determination that a detainee deserved to be labeled an "enemy combatant."

The military assigns a "personal representative" to each detainee, but defense lawyers may not take part. No

Re:

[pudge]

Right, bottom line, the CNN article sucked.

But then, so did the Slashdot article this morning, which made it sound like the MCA/DTA was not intended to sufficiently replace standard habeas provisions, and that the point in question was whether we should or should not grant habeas, which is, of course, not true.

Fred

[smittyoneeach]

http://www.townhall.com/Columnists/FredThompson/2008/06/13/a_supreme_error [townhall.com]

Re:

[pudge]

Hail to Fred!