Washington, DC | August 24, 2007 | www.adc.org | Today, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) joined an unusual coalition of public interest groups in filing an Amicus Curiae brief (friend of the court brief) in support of two companion cases seeking to restore the right to Habeas Corpus by foreign detainees at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay.
Co-counsel on the brief include the Constitution Project, Human Rights Watch, Human Rights First, and the Rutherford Institute. Organizations joining ADC in the brief include Open Society Institute and People for the American Way Foundation among others. Fulbright and Jaworski, a leading international law firm with a well-recognized Supreme Court and appellate practice, is serving as counsel.
The Military Commissions Act (MCA) of 2006 strips federal courts of jurisdiction over individuals detained at Guantanamo Bay, prohibiting them to challenge their imprisonment in the US court system. As a result, the system of checks and balances by the Judiciary towards the Executive branch of government is circumvented. Two cases before the Supreme Court of the United States Boumediene v. Bush and al Odah v. US seek to challenge the validity of the MCA and restore the right to habeas corpus.
The cases are on appeal from a 2-1 decision by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued on February 20, 2007. The Supreme Court denied the plaintiffs‘ original petition for Certoriari (review) on April 2, 2007, and, in an unusual move, reversed that decision on June 29, 2007, after the petitioners sought a rehearing.
In joining the brief, ADC hopes the US Supreme Court will find the Military Commissions Act unconstitutional and repair the system of checks and balances that is so central to our core constitutional values of due process and equal protecting under the law.
To read the brief see: https://www.adc.org/PDF/amicusbrief.pdf