Supreme Court expected to rule against Gitmo detainees David Edwards and Jason Rhyne

Published: Wednesday December 5, 2007



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Print This Email This The US Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear arguments about whether foreign prisoners held at the US military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have a right to challenge their detentions before American judges -- but the high court doesn't appear likely to rule in favor of the detainees. So-called enemy combatants currently in US custody are allowed only military tribunals, trials set forth under the 2006 Military Commissions Act which prohibit many of rights afforded American citizens in criminal court. According to CNN Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre, however, the Supreme Court will probably not find the process unconstitutional. "This case also has an interesting wrinkle," McIntyre reported. "Originally the justices said they wouldn't hear it, then they changed their minds and they are hearing it. A lot of legal experts think that means they're unlikely to overturn the Military Commissions Act that sets out the rules for those prisoners." Charles Swift, a former military defense attorney who previously represented an alleged associate of Osama bin Laden, told CNN that detainees wanted to the right to confront their accusers. "They want to look their accusers in the face," said Swift. "They want to be able to say, 'this is what I did.' They want to have an opportunity to exonerate themselves." Military tribunals do not permit the prisoners to have a lawyer present at their trials or guarantee them right to know the evidence against them. But defenders of the military tribunals say that US-held foreign detainees aren't being deprived of any legal rights. As reported in the Washington Post, Bush administration lawyers are expected to argue "that the tribunals have afforded suspected enemies all the rights to which they are entitled. The administration maintains that detainees need not know all of the evidence against them." Lawyers representing detainees "plan to argue that the panels violate the U.S. Constitution and international law," according to the paper. "They say that the proceedings have not provided Guantanamo Bay detainees with a fair and impartial hearing." Read more about the case in the Washington Post here. This video is from CNN's American Morning, broadcast on December 5, 2007.









In the following video, a lawyer representing detainees speaks to the media after Supreme Court hearing on Guantanamo detainee rights. He argues that detainees can not be held for years without being charged.



This video is from CNN.com, broadcast on December 5, 2007.









