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Bush Moves to Circumvent Court in Guantanamo Case

President Bush has done it again. Yesterday, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals was scheduled to hear oral argument Qassim v. Bush, the Guantanamo case involving the Uighur detainees from Western China who have been held without charges for four years. (Background here.)

On Friday, the Administration filed a motion seeking to declare the case moot, because it had just agreed to release the men to Albania where they will be resettled as refugees.

Brennen Center Associate Counsel Jonathan Hafetz writes:

The government claimed its extensive efforts to find a safe home for the Uighurs, who could not be returned to China for fear of torture, had finally "come to fruition."

It is difficult to believe the timing of the release was coincidental. It is far more likely that the government transferred the Uighurs to avoid an adverse ruling and to insulate its conduct from judicial scrutiny. A loss in Qassim would invalidate a key aspect of the government's detention regime at Guantánamo and reinforce the vitality of habeas corpus, which guarantees both the right to test the lawfulness of a prisoner's detention and an effective remedy where that detention is illegal. Further, the government feared that the court might order the Uighur's release in the United States where they could seek asylum, which, as Georgetown law professor David Luban observes, it's the least we owe them after four-plus years' wrongful imprisonment at Guantánamo.

Should the Government win the motion, Mr. Hafetz writes:

If the government succeeds in mooting the Qassim case, the district's court decision grudgingly upholding the Uighurs' continued detention would stand, and the administration would remain free to indefinitely detain the next group of non-enemy combatants. (There at least four more still in legal limbo). In short, the system of detention-without-remedy at Guantánamo would remain intact.

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    Re: Bush Moves to Circumvent Court in Guantanamo C (none / 0) (#1)
    by scarshapedstar on Tue May 09, 2006 at 12:01:42 PM EST
    Gee, let me predict the PPJ-at-al spin on this one: "You liberals whine when Bush detains someone, and whine when Bush sets them free - yawn!" After all, there's no forest here, just a bunch of trees.

    Re: Bush Moves to Circumvent Court in Guantanamo C (none / 0) (#2)
    by Punchy on Tue May 09, 2006 at 12:06:07 PM EST
    At what point, political sway be dammed, do judges just get fed up with being jacked around so much? What else does the Admin have to so egregiously do for the judges to see they're being played? Congress, I understand. They're stooges, b/c they must get elected. But judges...I'd think they'd eventually have enough and say "stop--this is a circus"...

    Re: Bush Moves to Circumvent Court in Guantanamo C (none / 0) (#3)
    by jondee on Tue May 09, 2006 at 12:16:08 PM EST
    Were we doing some kind of returning-a-favor to that charming land of the "plastic shredder" of mass hangings, torture, and,(thank Jesus!) no teachers unions - by taking these prisoners? Obviously, if they were freed, these enemy combatants would go right back to attacking U.S soldiers in China. But, all you liberals would like that, wouldnt you?

    Albania? Jeezus...whoever is writing this administration's script is really a master satirist. You couldn't come up with a better country for satirical purposes.

    These Chinese were NOT enemy combatants,(whatever that is) Jondee and Scarshapedscar seem to agree with the mantra of the witch hunters. KILL THEM ALL, LET GOD SORT THEM OUT.

    Re: Bush Moves to Circumvent Court in Guantanamo C (none / 0) (#6)
    by jondee on Tue May 09, 2006 at 03:00:20 PM EST
    ban - I was being sarcastic. And so was scar. Sorry that wasnt clear.

    Re: Bush Moves to Circumvent Court in Guantanamo C (none / 0) (#7)
    by jimakaPPJ on Tue May 09, 2006 at 04:33:07 PM EST
    scar - Hey, I hadn't thought of it, but that us pretty factual and honest. Thanks. I'll take it.

    Re: Bush Moves to Circumvent Court in Guantanamo C (none / 0) (#8)
    by john horse on Wed May 10, 2006 at 03:47:41 AM EST
    If the policies toward the detainees is legal, why does the Bush administration keep circumventing court challenges that will test the legality of those policies? How cowardly and sneaky. Instead of standing up for their beliefs, the Bush administration cuts and runs when the detainees finally are about to have their day in court. The fact that they don't want their policies tested in court is an admission in itself.