The GOP Piefight: GOP caves in on Guantanamo; FR furious.

[Carla in Ca]

The GOP has caved in on Guantanamo. Just a few days after the Senate approved an amendment stripping the detainees of access to the courts, Graham and the Republicans have caved in in the face of an impending lawsuit by Senator Jeff Bingaman and heavy public pressure on Senators. The Associated Press has broken the story.

The new bill is a compromise that will grant automatic access to the courts in cases where people are sentenced to over 10 years and the courts could have discretion to hear lesser sentences.

This case is significant, because it used to be that the GOP caving in on such an issue used to be unthinkable. But now, with Senators worried about their own reelection, the unthinkable is starting to happen.

FR comments below the fold...

<http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/11/14/212716/71>

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. WOW, they are startign to implode

keep the pressure people GOOD JOB

[Carla in Ca]

4. We have been pushing the snowball uphill

for so long, I thought we would never reach the peak...but we finally have. The snowball express is coming down now, and there is no stopping it! No more spinning the dismal polls, no more talking points, no more turn-the-tide speeches. He. Is. Through.

:toast:

[Wapsie B]

2. Let's continue the implosion next year, to '08 and beyond.

Majority party indeed.

[hvn_nbr_2]

3. Only when sentenced to ten years?

Doesn't make sense. No one at Gitmo has been sentenced to anything. That's the problem. If they had been sentenced to something, that would mean they had been to court already, i.e., had already had access to court.

[Carla in Ca]

5. We will have to see how this shakes out

and the vote on Graham's amemdment. Here is a comment/post in the diary:

This is broader than that


Under the agreement, detainees who receive a punishment of 10 years in prison to death would receive an automatic appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Lesser sentences would not receive automatic review, but detainees still could petition the court to hear their case.

In addition, the 500 or so detainees at the U.S. naval base in Cuba would be allowed to challenge in federal court the procedure under which they were labeled an "enemy combatant."

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. I am almost willing to bet

that after 06 many of these folks will be released wtih time served... any appeals will get real messy.

Will not be too shocked if monetary compensation is given too

[PaulaFarrell]

7. Don't forget five democrats voted for this bill

and two didn't vote.

Voting Yea:

Conrad
Landrieu
Lieberman
Nelson
Wyden


Not voting:

Corzine
Inouye

This bill wouldn't have passed without these guys' help.