Final filings on detainee rehearing issue
on Jun 27, 2007 at 11:57 am
U.S. Solicitor General Paul D. Clement, in a letter to the Supreme Court on Tuesday, moved to head off the effect that a military reserve officer’s statement under oath might have as the Justices decide whether to reconsider their April 2 denial of review of Guantanamo Bay detainees’ cases. On Wednesday, the detainees’ lawyers answered with a letter of their own.
On Friday, lawyers for detainees filed the sworn declaration of a Newport Beach, Calif., lawyer who is an Army Reserve lieutenant colonel describing flaws that he observed while working on the Pentagon’s review of detainees’ status — the process that determines whether they remain imprisoned. The lawyers told the Court that the statements by Stephen Abraham showed that the entire detainee status process “was an irremediable sham.”
Responding on Tuesday, the Solicitor General said that the Abraham statement “is not part of the record” before the Supreme Court. But, just in case the Court considered it as it weighed whether to grant detainees’ petitions for rehearing, Clement supplied a copy of a sworn declaration by retired Rear Adm. James M. McGarrah favorably describing the status review process. The Abraham statement was given to rebut Adm. McGarrah’s assertions. (The McGarrah declaration was filed in D.C. Circuit Court as it reviews how to judge the status review process. The Abraham declaration has been filed in the Circuit Court as well as in the Supreme Court.)
Thomas B. Wilner, one of the detainees’ Washington lawyers, on Wednesday submitted a letter to advise the Court that the detainees had no objection to the Justices viewing Adm. McGarrah’s comments. They noted, though, that it had not been a part of the record in the D.C. Circuit when it was filed there, but that the Justice Department had suggested it would assist the Circuit judges in understanding the detainee review process. Wilner added that the detainees “submit that the Abraham declaration will assist this Court in understanding the nature and inadequacy” of that process.
The text of the Solicitor General’s Tuesday can be found at this link. The text of the Wilner letter is at this link.
The Court is scheduled to consider the rehearing petitions at its Conference Thursday.
