Cross-posted at Balkinization Various developments on the resolution-of-Gitmo front to discuss. First a quick note on a recent signing statement. Then on to rumors of a contemplated executive order on detention issues. The war spending bill I recently mentioned barring the president from bringing any current Gitmo detainees to the United States was signed into law by the President...
We're delighted to have Professor Amos Guiora join us this week as a guest blogger at Opinio Juris, where he'll be discussing what lessons U.S. lawyers and policymakers might draw from the Israeli experience in administrative security detention. As many regular OJ'ers know, Professor Guiora is an expert on comparative counterterrorism law and has published extensively both in the United...
Ever since President Obama’s speech last week setting forth the general outlines by which he’ll resolve the mess at Guantanamo Bay, I’ve been trying to get my head around what the Administration will put into the legislation the President has suggested he’s going to work with Congress to get. Parts of that bill are maybe easier to see. For...
Hard to know what to respond to first given all the news this past week on the Guantanamo/detention front. My own week began with participating in the fascinating and useful meeting President Obama held with some human rights advocates and academics. Since then, I have been tempted to explore the politics of a debate that now find Jack...
There’s already been a good bit of thoughtful (see Dave Glazier) and not so thoughtful commentary about the Obama Administration’s decision to revive the commissions. I admit, news of the continuation of the commissions (in some revised form) hardly filled me with joy. But I’ve also been sorry to see rhetoric that seems to paint it at the end...
With leaks and rumors flying fast and furious (and uncomfirmable) in D.C. this week about what the Administration is likely to decide to do with the remaining Gitmo detainees, it’s no surprise the detention debate is again heating up. If you haven’t seen it already, take a look at Lindsay Graham and John McCain’s op-ed in the Wall Street Journal...
“That the Obama DOJ has repeatedly embraced the very legal theories responsible for much of the intense progressive rage towards the Bush/Cheney regime is now beyond dispute.” So writes Glenn Greenwald on his Salon blog this week entitled “An emerging progressive consensus on Obama's executive power and secrecy abuses.” I take it Glenn’s blog is much read by the “legal left”...
Read all about today’s blockbuster decision in which a U.S. federal district court held, in light of Boumediene, that detainees held at the U.S. Air Force Base in Bagram, Afghanistan, have a constitutional right to petition for a writ of habeas corpus in U.S. courts. A longer description and link to the 53-page opinion are here. Key caveat:...
As usual, I’m likely last online to note the now-official news of Harold Koh’s nomination to be Legal Adviser at the U.S. Department of State. For what it’s worth, we’d seen it coming. If the Senate has any sense, the nomination will sail through. I can’t imagine a candidate more qualified. Congratulations Dean Koh! And now back...
The Administration’s filing last week of a brief outlining its big-picture view of which Guantanamo detainees may be lawfully detained has sparked a vigorous – and I think productive – debate among international legal experts, human rights lawyers, and listserv participants on and off the blogosphere. So let me take the occasion to throw out a few recent articles/resources relevant...
The Obama Administration selected Friday afternoon (go figure) to release its whammy of a brief on the standard it believes should govern the President’s authority to hold the current Guantanamo detainees. Here’s the key paragraph: The President has the authority to detain persons that the President determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, and...
To read the accounts of detention conditions at Guantanamo this week coming from the latest DOD review on the one hand, and detainee lawyers on the other, you’d think the reporters had visited not just different prisons, but prisons on different planets. Report #1 is the product of President Obama’s executive order of January 22, charging the Defense Secretary...
