Court Cases
Detainee Policy
Mohammedou Salahi v. Barack Obama (Amicus Brief)
The Brennan Center for Justice and Reprieve file a brief as amici curiae in support of Salahi.
– 06/22/10
Kiyemba v. Obama (Amicus Brief)
The Brennan Center for Justice, along with a group of other organizations, has submitted three amici briefs in support of the D.C. District Court’s ruling that the government must release into the United States a group of Uighurs detained at Guantánamo Bay.
– 12/11/09
Al Maqaleh v. Gates (Amicus Brief)
The Brennan Center for Justice and co-counsel submitted an amicus brief on behalf of retired military officers, urging the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to affirm the District Court’s decision to grant habeas review to three non-Afghan citizens apprehended outside Afghanistan and detained at Bagram Theater Internment Facility.
– 11/06/09
Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri
The Center defended a Qatari national detained as an “enemy combatant” in the United States in his habeas corpus action that challenged the Executive’s claim to unchecked authority to indefinitely detain a legal reesident of the U.S. without any charge of wrongdoing. Mr. al-Marri was imprisoned without trial and without due process between 2003 and 2009.
– 02/27/09
Arar v. Ashcroft (Amicus Brief)
The Brennan Center filed an amicus brief in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of a group of distinguished federal judges in support of Maher Arar, a Canadian who was subject to extraordinary rendition to Syria.
– 10/27/08
Mohamed v. Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc. (Amicus Brief)
On July 10, 2008, the Brennan Center filed an amicus curiae (or friend of the court brief) in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on behalf of a group of former United States ambassadors and diplomats in the case of Mohamed v. Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc.
– 07/10/08
Geren v. Omar and Munaf v. Geren
The Brennan Center represents two United States citizens, Shawqi Omar and Mohammad Munaf, who have been detained by the United States in Iraq for more than two years, and whose cases were heard in the Supreme Court in March 2008. On June 12, 2008, the Supreme Court issued its decision in this case. We have filed a Petition for Rehearing with the Court, and are awaiting its decision.
– Ongoing
Boumediene v. Bush (Amicus Brief)
In August 2007, the Brennan Center filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of habeas corpus scholars in the United States and in the United Kingdom, explaining why habeas corpus rights must be granted to individuals held in Guantánamo Bay.
– Decided
Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (Amicus Brief)
In January of 2006, the Brennan Center and Professor William N. Eskridge Jr. filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court in support of the petitioner, arguing that there is no statute authorizing Hamdan to be tried by a military commission.
– 01/06/06
Padilla v. Hanft (Amicus Brief)
In 2005, the Brennan Center filed with the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals an amicus brief, urging the court to prohibit the executive branch from detaining individuals indefinitely in a military setting.
– 06/14/05