Hamdan Vs. Rumsfeld Decision Imminent
Posted on June 29, 2006
Update: Decision in! Court Rules 5-3: No Military Tribunals, Bush Overstepped Authority
ABC
The U.S. Supreme Court is preparing a potential landmark ruling that could determine the fate of the military tribunals created by President George W. Bush to try Guantanamo prisoners for war crimes.
The ruling by the nation’s highest court, which is expected later this week, will be one of the most significant presidential war powers cases since World War Two and could determine whether the tribunals are lawful.No one outside the court knows which day the ruling will come or how the justices will decide the myriad of issues in a challenge to the tribunals by Guantanamo prisoner Salim Ahmed Hamdan, who was Osama bin Laden’s driver in Afghanistan.
After the September 11 attacks, Bush established special war crimes tribunals for trying prisoners held at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, where the U.S. government says three prisoners killed themselves about two weeks ago.
Of about 450 prisoners at Guantanamo, only Hamdan and nine others face charges before a tribunal. Human rights groups have criticized the tribunals, formally called military commissions, for being fundamentally unfair.
Hamdan’s lawyers are challenging Bush’s power to create the tribunals and said he is covered by Geneva Convention, and therefore rules governing U.S. courts-martial should be applied.
The ruling has been eagerly awaited by administration officials, who want to bring charges against more prisoners, and by groups like Human Rights Watch, which has called on Bush to close the Guantanamo prison camp.
“The Supreme Court could decide that the military commissions set up at Guantanamo were not lawfully established, that their rules violate the law or that the commissions are inappropriate for this set of detainees,” said Katherine Newell Bierman of Human Rights Watch.
“On the other hand, the court could allow the military commissions to proceed as established under the current rules,” she said.
Michelle Malkin calls it the most important Supreme Court case not just of this session, but in the War on Terror. She is exactly right.
Lots of folks are getting bad vibes about what may come down on this one. Stay tuned.
Hat tip: Allah Pundit
» Filed Under ACLU, News, War On Terror
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3 Responses to “Hamdan Vs. Rumsfeld Decision Imminent”
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The Giants
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I fhe is indeed found to be under the GC then he shoudl be held as a POW until the end of teh war.
How’s that for justice?
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