Supreme Court: Habeas corpus is terror detainees' right

Combined News Services

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court rebuked the Bushadministration yesterday for a third time for its handling of the rights ofterrorism detainees held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, saying those in custody therehave a constitutional right to challenge their captivity in federal courts.

By a 5-4 vote that brought strongly worded and remorseful dissents from thecourt's conservative justices, the majority held that an alternative proceduredesigned by the administration and Congress was inadequate to ensure that thedetainees, some of whom have been imprisoned for six years without a hearing,receive their day in court.

"The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force,in extraordinary times," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote. "Liberty and security canbe reconciled; and in our system they are reconciled within the framework ofthe law."

Roberts filed a separate dissent, defending the alternative process tojudicial hearings, calling them "the most generous set of proceduralprotections ever afforded aliens detained by this country as enemycombatants."

President George W. Bush, in Europe this week for meetings with foreign allies,disagreed with the court ruling and said his administration would considerwhether to seek new legislation to deal with the detainees. "We will abideby the court's decision. That doesn't mean I have to agree with it," Bushsaid during a news conference in Rome."It was a deeply divided court. ... The dissent was based upon"national security concerns.

The head of the New York-based Center forConstitutional Rights, which represents dozens of prisoners at Guantánamo,welcomed the ruling.

"The Supreme Court has finally brought an end to one of our nation's mostegregious injustices," said the center's executive director, VincentWarren. "By granting the writ of habeas corpus, the Supreme Courtrecognizes a rule of law established hundreds of years ago and essential to Americanjurisprudence since our nation's founding."

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) was unhappy: "I am deeply disappointed inwhat I think is a tremendously dangerous and irresponsible ruling by the U.S.Supreme Court. ... The court has conferred upon civilian judges the right tomake military decisions. These judges have virtually no training in militarymatters yet civilian judges, in some of the most liberal district courts in thecountry, will have an opportunity to determine who is a threat to the United States."

Said Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.): "Today's opinion is an important andmuch-needed check ... on an administration which has shown utter contempt forthe rule of law."

Justice Kennedy, resuming the pivotal role he played in last term's decisions,sided with the court's liberal justices in deciding detainees had aconstitutional right to habeas corpus - the chance to protest their detentionbefore an independent judge.

Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, David Souter and John Paul Stevens joinedKennedy in the majority.