Several Articles About the Hamdan Case
The Supreme Court gets it right regarding whether or not the Administration can "make it up as it goes along" regarding what to do with those incarcerated at Gitmo. It's quite an important ruling argued by a young attorney named Neal Katyal who can today be very proud of his handling of the case. Here are some articles that I especially liked concerning the ruling:
Hamdan Summary -- And HUGE News:
As I predicted below, the Court held that Congress had, by statute, required that the commissions comply with the laws of war -- and held further that these commissions do not (for various reasons).
More importantly, the Court held that Common Article 3 of Geneva aplies as a matter of treaty obligation to the conflict against Al Qaeda. That is the HUGE part of today's ruling. The commissions are the least of it. This basically resolves the debate about interrogation techniques, because Common Article 3 provides that detained persons "shall in all circumstances be treated humanely," and that "[t]o this end," certain specified acts "are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever"—including "cruel treatment and torture," and "outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment." This standard, not limited to the restrictions of the due process clause, is much more restrictive than even the McCain Amendment. See my further discussion here.
Decisions: Hamdan decided, military commissions invalid:
The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that Congress did not take away the Court's authority to rule on the military commissions' validity, and then went ahead to rule that President Bush did not have authority to set up the tribunals at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and found the commissions illegal under both military justice law and the Geneva Convention. In addition, the Court concluded that the commissions were not authorized when Congress enacted the post-9/1l resolution authorizing a response to the terrorist attacks, and were not authorized by last year's Detainee Treatment Act. The vote against the commissions and on the Court's jurisdiction was 5-3, with the Chief Justice not taking part.
The Court expressly declared that it was not questioning the government's power to hold Salim Ahmed Hamdan "for the duration of active hostilities" to prevent harm to innocent civilians. But, it said, "in undertaking to try Hamdan and subject him to criminal punishment, the Executive is bound to comply with the Rule of Law that prevails in this jurisdiction."
Today's opinions themselves:
Today's Opinions:
Today's opinions can be found here (Hamdan v. Rumsfeld) and here (Clark v. AZ).
Court Holds in Hamdan that Geneva Convention Applies to Detainees:
The Supreme Court issued a much anticipated decision in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld this morning. The case addressed the Bush Administration's power to establish military tribunals for Guantanamo detainees. Marty Lederman, writing on SCOTUSBlog, looked to what he saw as the...