Attorneys are currently working to lobby members of the House and Senate to pass legislation to restore habeas jurisdiction for aliens being held as enemy combatants. Thus far, signatures have been collected in Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Oregon, New York, Virginia, and Colorado.
In California, this effort is being spearheaded by Farschad Farzan of Bingham McCutchen. If you're an attorney and you would like to add your signature or help, then please contact Wenda Huang at Bingham McCutchen ([email protected]) ASAP. Also, please pass this information onto any colleagues or friends that may also be interested in lobbying to restore habeas.
Below is the body of the letter sent by the Illinois legal community, and although it was sent prior to the passage of the Military Commissions Act of 2006, it still captures the essence of what the legal community is still trying to accomplish:
Dear Congressperson:
We are members of the Illinois legal community who are concerned about the ongoing efforts to remove jurisdiction from the United States District Court in Washington, D.C. over habeas corpus claims brought by Guantánamo Bay prisoners. As you know, in Rasul v. Bush and Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the federal court in Washington, D.C. has jurisdiction to hear those claims. Congress is now considering doing what it refused to do last fall in the Detainee Treatment Act – retroactively strip the federal district courts of jurisdiction to hear the pending Guantánamo habeas claims.
Some of us have experience as prosecutors, some as defense counsel, and others of us have not been directly involved in the criminal justice process. Some of us are Republicans, some of us are Democrats, and some of us are unaffiliated with either political party. What we have in common is our commitment to due process and the rule of law, the pillars of our nation’s proud legal tradition.
Currently, only ten of the approximately 460 men held at Guantánamo have been charged with war crimes before military commissions, and plans have been announced to charge the 14 men recently transferred there from CIA prisons. That leaves approximately 435 men who likely will never be brought before a military commission. For these 435 men, habeas corpus is the only meaningful method of challenging the legality of their detention. These men have filed petitions for habeas corpus, and they have been held for four and one-half years without being heard by an impartial tribunal.
If enacted, the proposed legislation would effectively authorize the Executive Branch to detain indefinitely anyone it deems an “enemy combatant” without charging them with a crime or treating them as a prisoner of war. As an example, someone who was detained because of mistaken identity will have no right to establish that fact before an impartial tribunal. The right of habeas corpus was enshrined in the Constitution by our Founding Fathers as the means by which anyone, who is detained by the Executive, may challenge the lawfulness of his detention. It is a vital part of our system of “checks and balances” and an important safeguard against mistakes which can be made even by the best intentioned government officials.
We urge you to uphold the fundamental rights that countless Americans have fought and died for, and to oppose any legislation that would strip the men at Guantánamo and others of the right to challenge their detentions in a court of law. Thank you very much for your consideration of the views expressed in this letter.
Please download and read the following: (1) A memorandum that more fully describes what is happening; (2) the model California letter that hopefully many attorneys will sign onto; and (3) the Illinois letter, which includes the signatories.
Time is of the essence, the plan is to present these letters on May 1, and every signature counts! Please spread the word!
[UPDATE: Also, check out a similar statement released by the Constitution Project on The University of Chicago Law School Blog.]
Comments