Habeus Corpus Rights Working at Guantanamo, Retired Judges Say

The process of habeas corpus -- the legal procedure that allows prisoners to petition a court to determine whether they are being properly held -- is working in the cases of detainees held at Guantanamo, according to a report from 16 retired judges that was discussed at the National Press Club June 10.

Former FBI director William S. Sessions, a retired judge, and attorney Douglas K. Spaulding, who represents several Guantanamo detainees, spoke at Newsmaker press conference.

"The right to be free is very important in this country," Sessions said. "In the modern uncertain times of war, justice delayed is justice denied, and habeas is designed to cut through that ... detainees want to be heard yesterday.”

The judges reviewed each of the Guantanamo habeas cases resolved by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to provide a picture of the federal court system’s handling of complex evidence, lawfulness of detention determinations, and establishment of consistent procedural guidelines.

The report was issued two years after the Supreme Court’s Boumediene v. Bush ruling that the right of habeas corpus review applies to persons held in Guantanamo.

The report, published by Human Rights First and the Constitution Project, also rejects the suggestion that the courts are struggling to take on these cases and are in need of legislation to provide further guidelines.

According to the judges, such a “legislative fix” is not only unnecessary, but would “throw the jurisprudence into disarray and require years of additional litigation just to return to the point we have now reached post-Boumediene.”

The charge leveled by certain commentators that federal courts are engaged in improper “lawmaking” reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the proper role of courts and judges in any common law system, the report says.

“Congress interfering at this moment - more delays - more harm,” Spaulding said, adding, “Congress has down the job now courts should be allowed to do theirs.”

Spaulding gave an example of one of his clients from Saudi Arabia, who is rehabilitated, married with a child and has become mayor of his city.

He said that there are 180 individuals in Guantanamo with pending cases and warned that if Congress keeps working on new legislation, “Congress is overstepping its authority.”

In a message to Congress, Sessions said, “Let the courts deal with these,” referring to the ongoing cases as “courts are making a very good sound headway.”