Supreme Court to Hear Guantanamo Appeals

["M.V.M. ( in UOL )" <mvmeireles@uol.com.br>]

Yahoo! News   Mon, Nov 10, 2003
Supreme Court to Hear Guantanamo Appeals

By ANNE GEARAN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court will hear its first case arising from the
government's anti-terrorism campaign following the Sept. 11 attacks,
agreeing Monday to consider whether foreigners held at a U.S. Navy  base in
Cuba should have access to American courts.

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The appeals came from British, Australian and Kuwaiti citizens held with
more than 600 others suspected of being Taliban or al-Qaida foot soldiers.
Most were picked up in U.S. anti-terrorism sweeps in Afghanistan  following
the attacks of two years ago.

The court combined the men's appeals and will hear the consolidated case
sometime next year.

Lower courts had found that the American civilian court system did not have
authority to hear the men's complaints about their treatment.

"The United States has created a prison on Guantanamo Bay that operates
entirely outside the law," lawyers for British and Australian detainees
argued in asking the high court to take the case.

"Within the walls of this prison, foreign nationals may be held
indefinitely, without charges or evidence of wrongdoing, without access to
family, friends or legal counsel, and with no opportunity to establish
their innocence," they maintained.

Also Monday, the high court refused to hear another appeal dealing with the
U.S. government anti-terrorism campaign. The court did not comment in
rejecting an appeal from an Islamic charity whose assets were impounded
three months after the terrorist attacks.

The Global Relief Foundation argued that the government put it out of
business without proof that the Illinois-based charity was funneling money
to terrorists. Since the attacks, the United States and other governments
have frozen the assets of several groups they claim assist groups like
al-Qaida.

Global Relief has not been charged with a terror-related crime. It has said
that it provides humanitarian relief in about 20 different nations, mainly
those with large Muslim populations. The case is Global Relief Foundation
v. Snow, 03-46.

In the Guantanamo case, the appeals come from men who do not even know
about the lawsuit, lawyers from the New York-based Center for
Constitutional Rights told the court. The lawsuit brought on their behalf
claims they are not al-Qaida members and had no involvement in Sept. 11.

The Bush administration replied that a lower federal appeals court properly
looked to a Supreme Court case arising from World War II to determine that
foreigners held outside the United States cannot bring the kind of court
challenge at issue now. The 1950 case said German prisoners detained by the
United States in China had no right to access to federal courts.

The administration issued no immediate comment after the court said it
would hear the appeals. The justices limited their review to the narrow but
significant question of access to U.S. courts. The men had raised broad
civil liberties objections to their detention and treatment, but the high
court declined to look at those issues. The men could presumably renew
those challenges if they win this case at the Supreme Court.

"In essence, the Court must now decide whether the United States will
reaffirm or reject its commitment to the rule of law," the Center for
Constitutional Rights said after the court agreed to hear the group's
appeal.

On the other side, The American Center for Law and Justice said it plans to
file a friend-of-the-court brief supporting the government.

"The fact is that the United States is permitted to take action to protect
the safety and security of all Americans," said Jay Sekulow, the group's
chief counsel. "The U.S. courts do not have any jurisdiction in this matter
and should not be permitted to be used to secure the release of these
detainees."

The Guantanamo base is a 45-square-mile area on the southeastern tip of
Cuba. The land was seized by the United States in the Spanish-American War
and has been leased from Cuba for the past century. The lease far predates
the communist rule of Fidel Castro

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia had rejected the
detainees' claim that Guantanamo Bay is under the de facto control of the
United States, even though it remains a part of Cuba.

Solicitor General Theodore Olson, whose wife was killed aboard the plane
that crashed into the Pentagon  on Sept. 11, told the court that the
prisoners' lawsuit has great "potential for interference with the core war
powers of the president."
President Bush has recommended that six of the Guantanamo detainees,
including Australian David Hicks, be the first to face military tribunals
established for the global war on terror.
Hicks also is among the inmates named in the appeals. He was captured while
allegedly fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan.
[ The cases are Rasul v. Bush, 03-334 and Al Odah v. United States, 03-343. ]