Sweeping U.S. Victory on Detainees ('Too Much Evidence' for Holding Them Said Demanded)

[Hissyspit]

Source: SCOTUS Blog

Sweeping U.S. victory on detainees
Circuit Court chastises judge

Lyle Denniston | Tuesday, July 13th, 2010 12:51 pm

The D.C. Circuit Court, in a broad hint to the Justice Department to adopt a new strategy in detainee cases, suggested strongly on Tuesday that federal judges are now demanding too much evidence from the government to justify holding prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, and elsewhere. Although the three-judge panel said it was not deciding the issue finally, it said that detention might be legal if the government has only “some evidence” to support captivity. Even a “preponderance of the evidence” standard may be too strict, it indicated.

The ruling — the latest in a lengthening string of Circuit Court defeats for detainees at Guantanamo — came in the case of Al-Adahi v. Obama (docket 09-5333). It overturned a decision last August by District Judge Gladys Kessler, that a Yemeni national, Mohammed Al-Adahi, was entitled to be released. Tuesday’s ruling was the second within a week by the Circuit Court reversing Judge Kessler in a detainee case, and the new opinion brought a scathing critique of the methods she used to decide in Al-Adahi’s favor. The opinion even lectured Kessler on how to do probability analysis. As has often happened in Guantanamo cases decided against detainees in the D.C. Circuit, the new ruling was written by Senior Circuit Judge A. Raymond Randolph.

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Using that standard, the District Courts have issued release orders for 38 of the 52 detainees whose cases have reached a conclusion. With one exception, and that was only a partial exception, the Circuit Court has rejected detainee challenges pursued on appeal. Tuesday’s ruling was the first by the Circuit Court, since Boumediene, to directly overturn a District Court order granting a detainee a release order.

Tuesday’s ruling appeared to have gone the furthest of any Circuit panel ruling to narrow the chances that other detainees can prevail in cases still to be decided in the District Courts. In virtually all of the habeas cases, the government has been able to produce “some evidence” that a detainee has links to terrorist organizations or figures. If that were now the level of proof required, the government would appear much more likely to prevail.

Read more: http://www.scotusblog.com/2010/07/sweeping-us-victory-on-detainees/#more-23034

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As Adam Serwer tweeted: 'Indefinite Detention just got a whole lot easier.'

[Hell Hath No Fury]

1. Shit.

This disgusts me to no end. :puke:

[Solly Mack]

2. k/r

sigh

[No Elephants]

3. ...

[Downwinder]

4. "The terrorists are trying to make us change our system. Give up

our Freedoms. Change our whole way of life."

[lfairban]

12. They are doing a good job.

If Obama had this much success on his original promises, he would have my whole hearted support.

[Soylent Brice]

5. K&R

[ixion]

6. End the tyranny of the so-called 'war' on terror and restore our Republic. Now.

which STARTS with restoring the Rule of Law.

[enough]

7. I keep trying to say something to sum up the hideousness of this, and keep failing.

It's been said so many times, and saying it never causes any change.

America desecrated by its own hand.

Creating enemies whose only honorable human reaction must be revenge unto the last generation.

[grahamhgreen]

8. The Constitution is being tortured by the so-called war on terror.

[pmorlan1]

9. And the hits just keep coming...

Let's see...we know we want to help the government keep these people locked up....we know the government doesn't have much evidence against them so let's figure out how we can cobble together an opinion that will give us what we want.

How depressing.

[Jefferson23]

10. Indefinite bullshit, that's what we have here...lunatics. n/t

[JDPriestly]

11. The problem is that anyone, including D.C. Circuit judges

could be identified as a terrorist, deprived of rights and imprisoned without due process for, who knows, a lifetime. Have the judges lost their reason?