Circuit’s Hamdan ruling intact
on Oct 12, 2005 at 2:36 pm
The D.C. Circuit has now refused to consider a plea to wipe out its ruling July 15 upholding the Bush Administration’s plan to try terrorism suspects on war crimes charges — a ruling that is now under challenge in the Supreme Court. In a brief order issued Tuesday in the case of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (Circuit docket 04-5393), the three-judge panel refused to allow a terrorist suspect being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to intervene to challenge the validity of the Circuit decision.
That individual wanted to enter the case to mount a challenge to the participation of Circuit Judge John G. Roberts, Jr. — now, the Chief Justice. Rami Bin Saad Al-Oteibi had contended that the July 15 ruling was invalid because Judge Roberts participated in making the ruling during the time he was meeting with Bush Administration officials about a possible nomination to the Supreme Court.
By refusing to allow Al-Oteibi to intervene, the Circuit Court panel took no action on his motion to disqualify (“recuse”) Roberts from the case. The panel ordered the Court clerk to return that motion to him without further action; thus, it was not even filed formally.
The underlying case is now on the Supreme Court’s docket as Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (05-184). The Court’s electronic docket shows that the Court had considered that case at its Conferences on Sept. 26 and Oct. 7, and that it has been scheduled for this Friday’s Conference for another look.
If the Justices’ inaction up to now has been a result of the pendency of Al-Oteibi’s motion in the D.C. Circuit, that obstacle has now been removed, and the Court presumably can act on the appeal by Salim Ahmed Hamdan, perhaps as early as next Monday.
(Thanks to Neal Katyal and Steve Truitt for assistance with this post.)
