The United States Supreme Court The United States Supreme Court has heard a plea that terrorism suspects being held at the U.S. Naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, should be given the opportunity to challenge their detention in American courts. Demonstrators outside the court chanted and waved signs calling on the nine high court justices to grant the detainees habeus corpus, the age-old legal principle that allows prisoners to challenge their detention before a neutral judge. Inside the court, attorney and former US Solicitory General Seth Waxman argued on behalf of a group of 37 detainees, part of the 305 prisoners now being held at Guantánamo. Some of the other justices appeared more sympathetic, including Justice Stephen Breyer . Since 2002, just three prisoners have been formally charged, and only one has been convicted, as part of a plea bargain. David Hicks , an Australian citizen, who admitted to training with al-Qaeda , was repatriated to Australia to serve a nine-month prison sentence. The Supreme Court ruled against the Bush administration in two previous cases concerning the legal rights of the Guantánamo detainees. Congress got involved in the issue in 2006 and passed a law that was designed to keep detainee appeals out of the civilian court system and refer them instead to military commissions. Aerial view of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. But civil and legal rights groups say the alternative procedures set up by Congress and the Bush administration deprive the detainees of basic rights. "At issue here that the Supreme Court decided was; 'Do we have a king in this country who is not bound by the rule of law and not bound by the Constitution? Or do we have a president that is subject to the Constitution?," said Vincent Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights . "If the courts are going to be in charge of the conduct of warfare, we are going to be a much less safe country," said Andrew C. McCarthy, who is with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies .
The United States Supreme Court The United States Supreme Court has heard a plea that terrorism suspects being held at the U.S. base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, should be given the opportunity to challenge their detention in American courts. Demonstrators outside the court chanted and waved signs calling on the nine high court justices to grant the detainees habeus corpus, the age-old legal principle that allows prisoners to challenge their detention before a neutral judge. Inside the court, and former argued on behalf of a group of 37 detainees, part of the 305 prisoners now being held at Guantánamo. Some of the other justices appeared more sympathetic, including Justice . Since 2002, just three prisoners have been formally charged, and only one has been convicted, as part of a plea bargain. , an Australian citizen, who admitted to training with , was repatriated to Australia to serve a nine-month prison sentence. The Supreme Court ruled against the Bush administration in two previous cases concerning the legal rights of the Guantánamo detainees. Congress got involved in the issue in 2006 and passed a law that was designed to keep detainee appeals out of the civilian court system and refer them instead to military commissions. Aerial view of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. But and groups say the alternative procedures set up by Congress and the Bush administration deprive the detainees of basic rights. "At issue here that the Supreme Court decided was; 'Do we have a king in this country who is not bound by the rule of law and not bound by the Constitution? Or do we have a president that is subject to the Constitution?," said Vincent Warren, executive director of the . "If the courts are going to be in charge of the conduct of warfare, we are going to be a much less safe country," said Andrew C. McCarthy, who is with the .
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Naval
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attorney and former US Solicitory General Seth Waxman
and former
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Stephen Breyer
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David Hicks
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al-Qaeda
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civil and legal rights
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Center for Constitutional Rights
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Foundation for Defense of Democracies