Ethics

Which Branch Controls Terror Detainees?

By Ed Brayton

There is a very interesting battle going on in Washington over the question of which branch of government controls what must be done with terrorism detainees, both before and after having a trial. A sizable number of detainees have already been found innocent but they are still being held because neither the Bush nor Obama administrations wanted to release them in the United States but no other country has been found to take them.

The problem is particularly acute for the 13 Chinese Uighurs who have been acquitted in federal court but are still being held at Gitmo because they can't be sent back to China, where they will likely be imprisoned by the government, and no one wants them released here. In fact, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in April that the federal courts cannot order any detainee to be released in this country.

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on July 03, 2009 (boomark / email).