Appeals court seeks detainee briefs
on Jan 5, 2006 at 11:56 am
The D.C. Circuit Court on Wednesday moved into the controversy over the fate of hundreds of pending lawsuits by detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in the wake of passage of the new Detainee Treatment Act of 2005. The issue is whether Congress has withdrawn the authority of the courts to hear and decide those cases.
In an order by a three-judge panel that has heard two groups of appeals involving detainees’ habeas challenges, the Court told parties on both sides to file briefs by Jan. 18. The Court said it was acting “on its own motion,” although the Justice Department had notified the Court this week that it would be raising the issue within the next ten days.
Here is the body of the Court’s order:
“It is ordered by the Court, on its own motion, that the parties file within 14 days of the date of this order, supplemental briefs of no more than 15 pages addressing the effect of section 1005 of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act of 2006, Pub. L. No. 109-___, sec. 1005 (signed by the President on December 30, 2005), on these appeals.”
The lead cases in the two appeals are Boumedienne, et al., v. Bush, et al. (docket 05-5062) and Al Odah, et al., v. U.S., et al. (05-5064). These appeals involve conflicting rulings by District Court judges on whether the Guantanamo detainees have any legal rights that they may assert against their capture and detention.
The panel held separate hearings on those cases on September 8. It was not clear whether the Court was nearing a decision on them.
