Detainees to seek fast-track appeal
on Feb 20, 2007 at 8:00 pm
Lawyers for Guantanamo Bay detainees plan to file soon — perhaps by the end of next week — one or more appeals in the Supreme Court challenging Tuesday’s ruling by the D.C. Circuit Court that ordered an end to all detainees’ habeas challenges. In their coming appeal, the detainees’ counsel will ask the Court to expedite the case, and, if it grants review, to schedule argument before the end of the current Term, perhaps in May. The Court is now scheduled to complete oral arguments on Wednesday, April 25.
The appeals will pose major tests of the meaning of habeas corpus, from American origins in 1789 through the present time. If the Justices grant review, the ensuing decision would be a fundamental test of Congress’ power to shape the jurisdiction of federal courts, including the Supreme Court itself.
The cases have been handled all along by a coalition of volunteer lawyers, and they are coordinating plans for the Supreme Court challenges in the wake of the defeat in the Circuit Court.
Among arguments that the appeals apparently will make is that only the Supreme Court can decide whether its jurisdiction in detainee habeas cases has been scuttled by the new Military Commissions Act of 2006. The D.C. Circuit Court did not mention that possible argument in finding that all cases pending in District Courts in Washingtoin, D.C., must now be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction under the MCA.
The disclosure of the plans of counsel caps a day of rapid developments on the legal fate of detainees, beginning with the Circuit Court ruling at 10 a.m. and a new filing by the Justice Department in a pending Supreme Court case on detainees’ rights. Readers are invited to scroll Tuesday’s postings for these reports.
