Litigation

Two Detainee Rulings Favor U.S. Government

By Peter Hardin

In two separate cases involving current or former detainees, federal courts have issued significant rulings that represented victories for the U.S. government.

In Washington, the District of Columbia Circuit Court asserted that U.S. judges are requiring too high a level of evidence from the government when it seeks to justify keeping prisoners locked up at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere, according to a SCOTUSblog post, headlined “Sweeping U.S. victory on detainees.”

The Circuit Court delivered a “scathing critique” of the methods used by District Judge Gladys Kessler in deciding that Mohammed Al-Adahi, a Yemeni national, deserved release, the blog reported.

In New York, District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan refused to dismiss charges against a terrorist defendant who argued that his Constitutional right to a speedy trial was violated because he was held as a detainee for almost five years preceding his transfer into the civilian court system, the New York Times reported.

The defendant, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani,was the first former detainee at Guantanamo to be transferred for trial into the civilian courts. The Obama administration may find it easier to try other former detainees in the federal court system as a result of the ruling, the newspaper said.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2008 that prisoners held at the Guantanamo Bay prison may challenge their detention in U.S. Courts. You can learn  read about disputes involving detainees? rights and related proceedings in federal courts in these earlier Gavel Grab posts.

Full post as published by The Gavel on July 13, 2010 (boomark / email).