NEW YORK - March 21 - Today attorneys representing Guantánamo detainees at the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) outlined their arguments against the Bush Administration's Guantánamo detainee policies for tomorrow's oral arguments in the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals (Al Odah v. United States of America and Boumediene v. Bush). CCR won the Supreme Court case establishing the detainees' right to challenge their detention in U.S. court (Rasul v. Bush), and currently oversees more than 500 pro-bono attorneys representing the detainees.

Barbara Olshansky, CCR Deputy Legal Director who is attending oral arguments tomorrow explained the challenge:

Senator Graham's legislation gives excessive powers to the Executive Branch and weakens the most fundamental guarantee in the U.S. Constitution: The right to individual liberty. We are challenging the Detainee Treatment Act because the Bush Administration is trying to use it to detain people indefinitely without charges. We've always welcomed a fair trial for our clients, but the Administration now reveals it would rather undermine the Constitution than make any real case in court. The detainees are not waiting for charges or trials; they are heading down a dark road without due process that ends in permanent interment. Today, Americans will see that when all else fails, the Administration's Guantánamo policy is not anti-terrorist, it is anti-Constitution.

According to recent estimates, the government is currently detaining about 490 prisoners at the Guantánamo Bay prison camp. CCR is working around the clock to achieve their release to freedom or a fair trial.

About CCR

The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) is a non-profit legal and educational organization dedicated to protecting and advancing the rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Founded in 1966 by attorneys who represented civil rights demonstrators in the South, CCR is committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change. www.ccr-ny.org

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