Federal Judiciary

Early ruling on detainee process?

By Akin Gump Supreme Court Practice Group

A federal judge who is coordinating the cases of some 200 Guantanamo Bay detainees challenging their confinement signaled on Friday that he may act soon on the government’s plea to modify significantly how those cases are processed.  Senior District Judge Thomas F. Hogan issued an order requiring the government to file a brief by next Wednesday to answer a stack of protests by detainees’ counsel demanding that Hogan let the cases move forward now.

On Nov. 6, Judge Hogan issued a “case management order” that laid out the framework some 114 cases involving more than 200 captives would follow, when returned by him to judges before whom those habeas cases were originally filed.  This was a key order, setting the stage for those cases to begin moving toward fairly early decisions.

But the Justice Department and other federal agencies have since demanded that Hogan make major changes in the order.  As an alternative, if he did not make changes, the government asked him to clear the way for an immediate appeal to the D.C. Circuit Court.

Responding to the government’s request, detainees’ counsel on Wednesday filed 63 separate oppositions.  Each urged Hogan not to accept any of the government’s changes.  Some urged him to make modifications that would favor detainees’ rights.  Many urged Hogan to send the cases back immediately to “merits judges” to let them proceed. And most opposed any interim appeal by the government.

Hogan’s order on Friday ordered the government to file a single reply to all 63 of those filings, answering all of their arguments.

Full post as published by SCOTUSBLOG on November 28, 2008 (boomark / email).