Psyche, Science, and Society

Habeas Corpus restored to Guantanamo

June 12th, 2008

In a landmark day for human rights and simple decency, the Supreme Court today ruled that the government cannot strip Guantanamo detainees of their habeas corpus rights to appeal their detention in court.

The court declared unconstitutional a provision of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 which, at the administration’s behest, stripped the federal courts of jurisdiction to hear habeas corpus petitions from the detainees seeking to challenge their designation as enemy combatants.

Congress and the administration had passed a shortened alternative to a habeas procedure for the prisoners in the 2005 Detainee Treatment Act. But Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, writing for the majority, said that procedure “falls short of being a constitutionally adequate substitute” because it failed to offer “the fundamental procedural protections of habeas corpus.”

Justice Kennedy declared: “The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times.”

Perhaps not surprisingly, Justice Scalia had a temper tantrum:

“It will almost certainly cause more Americans to be killed,” he said. “The nation will live to regret what the court has done today.” He said the decision was based not on principle, “but rather an inflated notion of judicial supremacy.”

Tonight we raise a glass to those courageous habeas attorneys who pursued these cases from their unpopular beginnings till this important victory. We are all a bit freer because of them.

Entry Filed under: Constitutional Law, Guantanamo, Law