Press Releases
Detention & Habeas Corpus
Brennan Center Calls On Congress To Investigate Why A U.S. Citizen Is Being Secretly Detained
Today, the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law called on members of Congress to investigate why a U.S. citizen has been detained in various African countries for the past three months without any charges brought against him.
– 05/16/07
Brennan Center Calls for Continued Access to Guantanamo Detainees
Today, a federal appeals court in Washington heard arguments in a significant case that will determine the future of attorneys access to Guantanamo detainees.
– 05/15/07
Court Gives Government the Right to Establish Prisons Outside the US
Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District Court of Columbia dismissed habeas corpus petitions from approximately 400 people currently detained at the U.S. Detention Center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
– 02/20/07
In a Landmark Ruling, DC Circuit Court Upholds Supreme Court View that War is not a Blank Check
The D.C. Circuit today issued a landmark ruling rejecting the Administration’s authority to detain U.S. citizens without judicial review. The Court rejected the government’s argument, accepted already by one federal district court, that the executive branch can detain a U.S. citizen, and deny him any access to judicial review, provided that it can point to some “international” authority for the detention.
Crucial Court Hearing Challenges Congress’ Power to Deprive Individuals of Habeas Corpus Rights
oday, for first time in court, lawyers challenged Congress’ power to deprive individuals in the U.S. of habeas corpus rights pursuant to the Military Commissions Act. Lawyers for Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, who has been detained without charges since December 2001, argued the U.S. government’s detention policy - and the premises on which it is based—violate the U.S. Constitution. Government lawyers responded that the president is acting within his powers and that, due to passage of the Military Commissions Act, the circuit court of appeals lacks jurisdiction to hear the case.
Reno Files Challenge to Terror Law
Former Attorney General Janet Reno and seven other former Justice Department officials filed court papers Monday arguing that the Bush administration is setting a dangerous precedent by trying a suspected terrorist outside the court system.
Authored by: Press Release
– 11/21/06
Government Seeks to Strip Immigrants of Habeas Corpus
For the first time in Americas history, immigrants in the United States can be indefinitely imprisoned as enemy combatants without court review, according to papers filed last night by the government in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia. The government has now asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to dismiss a habeas corpus petition filed by 41-year old student, Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, who has been imprisoned without charge in a Navy Brig near Charleston, South Carolina for 3 years.
– 11/14/06
American Citizen Urges Court To Review His Prolonged Detention in Iraq and to Protect the Rule
A federal lawsuit filed today in Washington, D.C., challenges the Executive Branchs prolonged detention of an American citizen in Iraq without court review. The suit, entitled Munaf v. Harvey, was filed by the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, with co-counsel Burke Pyle LLC and the MacArthur Justice Center at Northwestern University School of Law.
– 08/16/06
Brennan Center Files Brief Rebuffing Claim to Unilateral Detention Authority
The U.S. Government has made the unprecedented claim that it can hold a U.S. citizen virtually incommunicado and then hand him over to potential torture. A brief filed last Friday by lawyers for a U.S. citizen detained in Iraq for more than nineteen months decisively responds to this extraordinary claim of unchecked executive power.
– 06/26/06