Guantánamo 2002 – 2009
Since January 11, 2002 (pdf), approximately 775 people ranging in age from 13 to 98 have been detained at the military prison complex at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. As of early 2009, approximately 250 remain there. In that time, two trials have been completed in the flawed military commissions system, both ending in convictions that are tainted with illegitimacy.
In addition to attending nearly every military commissions proceeding at Guantánamo since they began in 2004, the ACLU founded the John Adams Project, a partnership with the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers to sponsor expert civilian counsel to assist the under-resourced military defense counsel of some Guantánamo detainees.
After three Supreme Court decisions rejecting the administration’s detention policies at Gitmo, the legal status of the detainees there remains unresolved and the fight continues to end unlawful detention and the denial of due process. The ACLU is calling on President Barack Obama to close Guantánamo by executive order on Day 1 of his presidency and end the military commissions.
GITMO AND THE SUPREME COURT
Rasul v. Bush
Reviewing a ruling that the federal courts are not entitled to hear a claim that detainees at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba are being held in violation of the Constitution and international law: The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that prisoners seized as potential terrorists and held for more than two years at a U.S. military prison camp in Cuba may challenge their captivity in American courts.
Hamdan v. Rumsfeld
Challenge to the validity of the military commissions established by President Bush to try detainees as part of the war against terrorism: In a sharp rebuke to the Bush administration, the United States Supreme Court ruled 5-3 that the military commissions system established by President Bush to try detainees at Guantánamo Bay is unfair and illegal.
Boumediene v. Bush and Al Odah v. United States
Whether the detainees at Guantánamo can be deprived of any meaningful right to challenge the lawfulness of their detention without charges or trial: In a stunning blow to the Bush administration’s failed national security policies, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the U.S. Constitution applies to the government’s detention policies at Guantánamo. The Court concluded that detainees held at Guantánamo have a right to challenge their detention through habeas corpus.
RESOURCES
News
Leading Human Rights Groups Request Full Access To Guantánamo Prison (1/30/2009)
ACLU Calls On Secretary Gates To Halt Guantánamo Case (1/29/2009)
ACLU Says Federal Criminal Justice System Appropriate For Guantánamo Detainees (1/29/2009)
ACLU Decries Critics Of Guantánamo Closure Proposals (1/27/2009)
President Obama Orders Guantánamo Closed And End To Torture (1/22/2009)
President Obama To Order Guantánamo Closed (1/21/2009)
President Obama Orders Prosecution To Seek Suspension Of Guantánamo Military Commissions (1/21/2009)
Bush Administration Fights To Continue Illegal Prosecution Of Guantánamo Prisoner Captured As Teenager (1/16/2009)
ACLU Calls On International Bodies To Intervene In Case Of Alleged Child Soldier At Guantánamo (1/16/2009)
Leading NGOs Urge Military Judge To Allow Public To Hear Details Of 9/11 Case (1/14/2009)
Top Military Commission Official Admits Detainee Was Tortured (1/14/2009)
ACLU Files Habeas Petition Challenging Guantánamo Detention Of Prisoner Captured As Juvenile (1/13/2009)
Obama Should Not Delay Closure Of Guantánamo And Military Commissions, Says ACLU (1/12/2009)
Leading Rights Groups Urge Obama To Stop Guantánamo Proceedings Against Child Soldiers (1/12/2009)
Court Closes Avenue For Guantánamo Detainees To Challenge Their Detention (1/9/2009)
ACLU Calls For End To Inhumane Force-Feeding Of Guantánamo Prisoners (1/9/2009)
U.S. Government Refers Charges Against USS Cole Suspect Al-Nashiri At Guantánamo (12/19/2008)
ACLU Calls Gates Plans To Close Down Guantánamo An Important First Step (12/18/2008)
Leading Civil Liberties And Human Rights Organizations Urge Obama Not To Create On-Shore Guantánamo System (12/18/2008)
ACLU Rejects Vice President Cheney’s Praise Of Guantánamo (12/16/2008)
ACLU Monitoring Unconstitutional Guantánamo Military Commissions Today (12/15/2008)
ACLU Monitoring Unconstitutional Guantánamo Military Commissions Today (12/12/2008)
9/11 Victims’ Families Challenge Legitimacy Of Guantánamo Military Commissions (12/10/2008)
9/11 Detainees Postpone Guilty Pleas At Guantánamo (12/08/2008)
Video Produced By ACLU And Brave New Films Reveals Flaws In Guantánamo Military Commissions (12/08/2008)
Guantánamo Detainees Charged With 9/11 Crimes Offer To Plead Guilty (12/08/2008)
ACLU At Guantánamo This Week For 9/11 Hearings (12/08/2008)
ACLU Challenges Government Suppression Of Torture Testimony At Guantánamo (12/05/2008)
ACLU Says No Room For Compromise On Banning Torture (12/03/2008)
Federal Judge Orders Release Of Five Guantánamo Detainees Held Without Charges (11/20/2008)
Guantánamo Judge Throws Out More Evidence Obtained Through Torture In Jawad Case (11/20/2008)
ACLU Praises Obama’s Plan To Close Guantánamo (11/17/2008)
ACLU Calls On Obama To Close Guantánamo On Day One Of Presidency (11/10/2008)
Second Unconstitutional Military Commission Trial Ends In Conviction At Guantanamo (11/03/2008)
Military And Civilian Lawyers Petition Guantanamo Military Commission To Address Fundamental Flaws (11/03/2008)
Federal Court Allows Bush Administration To Withhold Records Detailing Torture And Abuse Of Guantanamo Prisoners (10/29/2008)
Guantanamo Judge Rejects Evidence Obtained Through Torture In Jawad Case (10/28/2008)
ACLU Releases Presidential Transition Plan To Restore Civil Liberties (10/27/2008)
ACLU Monitoring Unconstitutional Guantanamo Military Commissions This Week (10/22/2008)
Dropped Charges Against Guantanamo Detainees Are Evidence Of Failed Policies, Says ACLU (10/21/2008)
ACLU Challenges Destruction Of Evidence In Indefinite Detention Case (10/17/2008)
New Documents Reveal Unlawful Guantanamo Procedures Were Also Applied On American Soil (10/08/2008)
Supreme Court Deals Blow To Bush Administration’s Guantanamo Policy And Affirms Individual Right To Bear Arms (06/26/2008)
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MULTIMEDIA
Audio: Jamil Dakwar on Omar Khadr’s continued proceedings (4/12/2008)
Audio: Oral Arguments in Boumediene v. Bush (12/5/2007)
Podcast: Jamil Dakwar Recounts the Hearing of Omar Khadr (11/9/2007)
Audio: ACLU Legal Director Steve Shapiro on the Bush Administration’s Unlawful Detention Policy
Audio/Video: Steve & Sekou – “In Sheeps Clothing”
Audio: ACLU and PEN American Center: “Dirty Wars”
Audio/Video: Ghosts of Abu Ghraib
Audio: “The Road to Guantánamo”
Video: ACLU Sues Jeppesen, Boeing Subsidiary, for Participation in CIA Kidnapping
Video: Khaled El-Masri After Arguments in His Case
Audio: Steven Watt & Steven Gray on Ghost Plane
Audio/Video: Rapper El-P Addresses Torture and Abuse in Latest Video
OTHER MATERIALS
Gitmo by the Numbers Fact Sheet (pdf)
Letter: Anthony D. Romero to Defense Secretary Robert Gates
Speech: Romero Calls Guantánamo Policies ‘Fundamentally Lawless’
Report: Conduct Unbecoming: Pitfalls in the President’s Military Commissions
Military Commissions: Process and Rules
Feature: The Military Commissions Act
Related Issues
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