FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: media@dcaclu.org
WASHINGTON - The Senate today amended a
recently adopted proposal that would deny all courts, including the Supreme
Court, jurisdiction to consider legal challenges to the detention of foreign
detainees held at Guantanamo Bay. The American Civil Liberties Union called the
step an improvement, but said that it still fell short of fully restoring the
rule of law.
"Last Thursday, the Senate voted to turn
Guantanamo Bay into a legal no-man's land," said Caroline Fredrickson, Director
of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. "Today's vote is a step in the right
direction, but still does not adequately restore the rule of law that the Senate
abandoned last week."
The Senate today voted to revise the
provisions in court-stripping legislation that passed last week as an amendment
to the Defense Department authorization bill. The amendment offered last week by
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) would have cut off nearly all access to the courts
for persons at Guantanamo Bay who have been held for almost four years without
being charged, without any meaningful access to an attorney, and without being
told why they are being held.
Today, the Senate adopted a substitute
offered by Senators Carl Levin (D-MI) and Graham that partially reverses some of
the restrictions in the Graham amendment, and restores some minimal due process
protections for some persons held at Guantanamo Bay. The Levin-Graham amendment
authorizes appeal to the courts by any person found by a combat status review
tribunal to be an "enemy combatant" or by any person convicted by a military
commission at Guantanamo Bay for at least ten years.
However, the ACLU noted that the
amendment still has significant problems. It does not allow any habeas claim for
protection against government-funded torture or abuse. It also does not provide
any mandatory court appeal of a military commission conviction of a Guantanamo
detainee for fewer than ten years, and prohibits all habeas claims if the
government decides it is going to hold a person without ever determining their
status.
The initial Graham amendment came just
days after the Senate passed, for the second time, the McCain anti-torture
amendment, and in the same week that the Supreme Court announced that it will
consider the constitutionality of President Bush’s military commissions for
detainees at Guantanamo Bay.
"The amendment passed by the Senate
today is a significant improvement over the Graham amendment that passed last
week," added Christopher E. Anders, an ACLU Legislative Counsel. "However,
Congress is still cutting short constitutional protections."
To read the ACLU’s
letter to the Senate on the initial Graham Amendment, go to:
http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=19389&c=206
