Federal appeals court rules that Guantanamo inmates cannot contest detention in U.S. court

The Associated Press

Feb 20, 2007

Guantanamo Bay detainees may not challenge their detention in U.S. courts, a federal appeals court said Tuesday, a ruling that upholds a crucial provision of a law at the center of President George W. Bush’s campaign against terror.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 2-1 that civilian courts no longer have the authority to consider whether the U.S. military is holding foreigners illegally at the Guantanamo naval base in Cuba.

Barring detainees from the U.S. court system was a primary provision in the Military Commissions Act, which Bush pushed through Congress last year to set up a system to prosecute terror suspects.

Attorneys for the detainees immediately said they would appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which last year struck down the Bush administration’s original plan for trying detainees before military commissions.

“We’re disappointed,” said Shayana Kadidal of the Center for Constitutional Rights. “The bottom line is that according to two of the federal judges, the president can do whatever he wants without any legal limitations as long as he does it offshore.”

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