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Detention & Habeas Corpus

In the aftermath of 9/11, the Bush administration authorized the wholesale detention of individuals suspected of terrorism. While in executive detention, which is often shrouded in secrecy, prisoners have been forbidden access to due process of the law and fair judicial review. Despite the fact that habeas corpus is a constitutionally protected law that allows the imprisoned to question the grounds for their detention, the government has denied these individuals this right.

The Brennan Center is working to restore habeas corpus.We are educating the public on the administration’s abandonment of legal principle, while working with Congress to bring greater transparency, accountability, and respectability to American detention and interrogation policy. In Ten Things You Should Know About Habeas Corpus, Liberty & National Security Litigation Director Jonathan Hafetz discusses the importance of the mighty writ. The Brennan Center is also counsel in Al-Marri v. Wright, the only case now being litigated about the detention of a person as an “enemy combatant” within the United States. Al Marri is one of the most important cases now in the federal courts. We also serve as counsel in path-breaking cases that challenge the military detention of U.S. citizens overseas (Omar v. Harvey and Munaf v. Geren). In addition, we are working to prevent the policy of “extraordinary rendition.”