[Mb-civic] Senate Approves Plan to Limit Detainee Access to Courts - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

Senate Approves Plan to Limit Detainee Access to Courts

By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 11, 2005; Page A07

The Senate endorsed a plan yesterday that would sharply limit suspected 
foreign terrorists' access to U.S. courts, an effort to overturn a 
landmark 2004 Supreme Court ruling that has allowed hundreds of 
detainees held by the military at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to challenge 
their detentions.

At the same time, the proposal would give Congress some oversight of the 
military process set up to review whether Guantanamo Bay detainees are 
terrorists and should continue to be held. The measure would subject 
those tribunal decisions to limited review by the U.S. Court of Appeals 
for the District of Columbia.

Approval of the plan, sponsored by Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and 
endorsed 49 to 42 mostly along party lines, marks a partial but 
significant victory for the Bush administration, which has argued that 
suspected enemy combatants overseas cannot challenge their confinement 
in U.S. courts.

But the administration has also argued that all matters related to the 
detention and interrogation of suspected terrorists should be left to 
President Bush.

The amendment to a defense authorization bill was endorsed three days 
after the Supreme Court announced it would rule on the legality of 
military commissions to try Guantanamo Bay detainees, setting up what 
could be one of the most important rulings on presidential war powers 
since World War II. The vote also came amid ongoing debate in Congress 
over a proposal by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to ban cruel, degrading 
and inhumane treatment of U.S. detainees.

Graham said in an interview last night that the proposal is aimed at 
forging a compromise between the administration and civil liberties 
advocates who have been fiercely critical of the government's detention 
policies, and to stem the tide of lawsuits filed by Guantanamo Bay 
detainees.

"We've got a chance here, if we work together, to bring clarity to 
confusion, to create a legal process that we as Americans can be proud 
of and to make sure we're not losing ground in the war on terrorism by 
losing good intelligence," Graham said.

The White House last night signaled support for the plan. But civil 
liberties groups called it a step backward and complained it had not 
received meaningful debate.

The United States would "be free to hold people indefinitely without a 
hearing and beyond the reach of U.S. law and checks and balances," said 
a statement by the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, 
which has helped many detainees challenge their confinement and 
treatment in court.

Opponents of the plan will have a chance to amend it before it comes up 
for a final vote as early as next week.

About 260 of the more than 750 prisoners currently or previously held at 
Guantanamo Bay have filed habeas corpus petitions in the U.S. District 
Court for the District of Columbia. They have alleged various kinds of 
abuse, wrongful detention and inadequate medical care, among other 
complaints.

Four Democrats voted in favor: Kent Conrad (N.D.), Mary Landrieu (La.), 
Joseph I Lieberman (Conn.) and Ben Nelson (Neb.). Four Republicans were 
opposed : Lincoln D. Chafee (R.I.), Gordon Smith (Ore.), Arlen Specter 
(Pa.) and John E. Sununu (N.H.).

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/10/AR2005111001412.html?referrer=email
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