DOJ Blames Six-Year Trial Delay on Detainee, Cites National Security

Late on Friday, the Department of Justice quietly filed an unclassified, heavily redacted version (see below) of its argument why a New York federal court should not dismiss the case of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, an accused conspirator in the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and More…

Repatriation of Yemeni Detainees a Significant Step Toward Closing Gitmo

The news today that the Obama administration has arranged for the repatriation of six Yemeni detainees from the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay suggests a breakthrough in what’s long been a major obstacle to closing the notorious U.S. prison.

The Washington Post reports that the transfer More…

Conflict Heats Up Over Government’s Firing of Former Military Commission Prosecutor

The New York Times editorial board weighs in today in defense of Col. Morris Davis, the Air Force officer fired from the Congressional Research Service after he publicly criticized the government’s handling of Guantanamo detainee cases. That’s sure to ratchet up the pressure on CRS to More…

Has the Supreme Court Undermined Civil Rights Enforcement?

Does a House bill about legal civil procedures provide a way to restore the protection of civil rights in America, or is it an unwarranted gift to trial lawyers that could be “paralyzing if not deadly” to the federal government?

That’s the question a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee More…

White House Peddles Misinformation on Gitmo

Here’s a nice catch by Dafna Linzer at ProPublica. At yesterday’s press conference, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs made two statements about the Obama administration’s connection to the more than 200 Guantanamo detainees left at the prison camp.

First, Gibbs told reporters that more transfers of Guantanamo detainees More…

Will Prisoners’ Move to Thompson Expand Their Legal Rights?

Among the objections from Congressional Republicans to transferring Guantanamo detainees from Cuba to Illinois is the fear that the prisoners will suddenly have many more rights by virtue of being on U.S. soil.

But is that true?

Actually, it’s not clear, Scott Silliman, a professor at Duke University More…

Introducing TWI’s Gitmo Habeas Scoreboard

Since the Supreme Court ruled last year that detainees at the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo have the right to habeas corpus — that is, the right to challenge their detention in court — hundreds of detainees have taken advantage, filing petitions in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. More…

Mitch McConnell Channels Civil Libertarians on Gitmo Transfers

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) appears to be taking a page from civil liberties groups like the Center for Constitutional Rights, using similar arguments to denounce the Obama administration’s decision to move some Guantanamo detainees to a prison in Thomson, Illinois.

Calling it “the latest in a string of More…

‘State Secrets’ Strikes Again

The government’s “state secrets” argument was back in full force yesterday, this time being made by the Justice Department before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco in the ongoing case against Jeppesen Dataplan, a Boeing subsidiary. Jeppesen is accused by five alleged victims More…

U.S. Government Wins Gitmo Habeas Case; Score Is 31-9 in Favor of Detainees

In a rare win for the government in a Guantanamo Bay detainee case, a federal judge ruled Monday that it can continue to hold a 28-year-old Yemeni at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Musa’ab Al-Madhwani has been imprisoned at Guantanamo since October 2002. More…