Detainee torture issue taken to Court
Friday, August 22nd, 2008 5:29 pm | Lyle Denniston.
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UPDATE Monday a.m. The case of Rasul v. Myers has now been assigned docket number 08-235.)
In the first move to put claims of torture of Guantanamo detainees before the Supreme Court, lawyers for four Britons formerly held at the Navy prison in Cuba on Friday asked the Justices to overturn a federal appeals court ruling that they had no right to sue Pentagon officials and military officers over the issue.....
The case would give the Justices a chance to rule on whether Guantanamo detainees have any rights under the Constitution beyond the right to challenge their detention in habeas cases, and whether they have any rights under U.S. laws.
The D.C. Circuit Court last Jan. 11 rejected all of the claims of abuse and arbitrary imprisonment, thus scuttling the case. With no dissents noted, the Circuit Court refused on March 26 to rehear the case en banc. The petition in the Supreme Court was filed after attorneys obtained an extension to do so by Friday. ...
The new appeal asks the Justices to rule on three issues:
1. Do the former detainees have a right to sue for “religious abuse and humilation” under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.? (The Circuit Court found the detainees were not “persons” covered by the Act.)
2. Does the Constitution provide U.S. captives with a constitutional right not to be tortured – or, if there is such a right, was it not established at the time of the mistreatment claimed in this case and thus U.S. offiicials have immunity to lawsuit? (The Circuit Court ruled that detainees have no constitutional rights.)
3. Did the Defense Secretary and senior military officers have the authority to order torture, as coming within the range of their official duties? (The Circuit Court said that any such mistreatment was incidental to officials’ duty in ordering that detainees be interrogated.)
The appeal notes that the Circuit Court had found that “Guantanamo detainees lack constitutioinal rights because they are aliens without property or presence in the United States.” That conclusion, the petition points out, was overturned by the Supreme Court on June 12 in Boumediene v. Bush, recognizing a constitutional right of habeas.
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