December, 14 2009, 01:56pm EDT
Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Suit Seeking Accountability for Guantanamo Torture
Today, the United States Supreme Court refused to review a lower
court's dismissal of a case brought by four British former detainees
against Donald Rumsfeld and senior military officers for ordering
torture and religious abuse at Guantanamo. The British detainees spent
more than two years in Guantanamo and were repatriated to the U.K. in
2004.
NEW YORK
Today, the United States Supreme Court refused to review a lower
court's dismissal of a case brought by four British former detainees
against Donald Rumsfeld and senior military officers for ordering
torture and religious abuse at Guantanamo. The British detainees spent
more than two years in Guantanamo and were repatriated to the U.K. in
2004.
The Obama administration had asked the court not to hear the case. By
refusing to hear the case, the Court let stand an earlier opinion by
the D.C. Circuit Court which found that the Religious Freedom
Restoration Act, a statute that applies by its terms to all "persons"
did not apply to detainees at Guantanamo, effectively ruling that the
detainees are not persons at all for purposes of U.S. law. The lower
court also dismissed the detainees' claims under the Alien Tort Statute
and the Geneva Conventions, finding defendants immune on the basis that
"torture is a foreseeable consequence of the military's detention of
suspected enemy combatants." Finally, the circuit court found that,
even if torture and religious abuse were illegal, defendants were
immune under the Constitution because they could not have reasonably
known that detainees at Guantanamo had any Constitutional rights.
Eric Lewis, a partner in Washington, D.C.'s Baach Robinson & Lewis,
lead attorney for the detainees, said, "It is an awful day for the rule
of law and common decency when the Supreme Court lets stand such an
inhuman decision. The final word on whether these men had a right not
to be tortured or a right to practice their religion free from abuse is
that they did not. Future prospective torturers can now draw comfort
from this decision. The lower court found that torture is all in a
days' work for the Secretary of Defense and senior generals. That
violates the President's stated policy, our treaty obligations and
universal legal norms. Yet the Obama administration, in its rush to
protect executive power, lost its moral compass and persuaded the
Supreme Court to avoid a central moral challenge. Today our standing
in the world has suffered a further great loss."
The four former detainees - Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal, Rhuhel Ahmed, and Jamal Al-Harith
- were held from 2002 to 2004 at Guantanamo before being sent home to
England without being charged with any offense. They filed their case
in 2004 seeking damages from former Secretary of Defense Donald
Rumsfeld and senior American military officers for violations of their
constitutional rights and of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act,
which prohibits infringement of religion by the U.S. government against
any person. Their claims were dismissed in 2008 by the Court of Appeals
for the District of Columbia Circuit when that court held that
detainees have no rights under the Constitution and do not count as
"persons" for purposes of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Last year, the Supreme Court granted the men's first petition, vacated
the Court of Appeals decision and ordered the D.C. Circuit to
reconsider its ruling in light of the Supreme Court's historic decision
in Boumediene v. Bush, which held that Guantanamo is de facto U.S. territory and that detainees have a Constitutional right to habeas corpus.
On remand, the D.C. Circuit reiterated its view that the Constitution
does not prohibit torture of detainees at Guantanamo and that detainees
still are not "persons" protected from religious abuse. Finally, the
Court of Appeals held that, in any event, the government officials
involved are immune from liability because the right not to be tortured
was not clearly established.
A second petition filed with the Court on August 24, 2009 pointed out
that the Court of Appeals decision stands in conflict with all of the
Supreme Court's recent precedent on Guantanamo and attacked the notion
that the prohibitions against torture and religious abuse were not
clearly established in 2002 when the petitioners were imprisoned.
Center for Constitutional Rights Senior Attorney Shayana Kadidal,
co-counsel on the case, said, "We are disappointed that the Supreme
Court has refused to hold Secretary Rumsfeld and the chain of civilian
and military command accountable for torture at Guantanamo, and that
the Obama administration sought to block torture victims from having
their day in court. Where can these men seek justice now for the
terrible things that were done to them? The entire world recognizes
that torture and religious humiliation are never permissible tools for
a government, yet our highest court seems to think otherwise."
CCR has led the legal battle over Guantanamo for the last seven years -
sending the first ever habeas attorney to the base and sending the
first attorney to meet with a former CIA "ghost detainee" there. CCR
has been responsible for organizing and coordinating more than 500 pro
bono lawyers across the country in order to represent the men at the
base, ensuring that nearly all have the option of legal representation,
and is representing detainees at Guantanamo before the Supreme Court
for the third time this term. In addition, CCR has been working to
resettle the approximately 60 men who remain at Guantanamo because they
cannot return to their country of origin for fear of persecution and
torture.
Baach Robinson & Lewis, a Washington, D.C. litigation firm has been
in the forefront of detainee litigation, working on behalf of both
Guantanamo and Afghan detainees, since early 2004.
The Center for Constitutional Rights is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. CCR is committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change.
(212) 614-6464LATEST NEWS
Supreme Court Urged to 'Rule Quickly' After Trump Immunity Arguments
"It'd be a travesty for justices to delay matters further," said one legal expert.
Apr 25, 2024
After about three hours of oral arguments Thursday on former President Donald Trump's immunity claims, legal experts and democracy defenders urged the U.S. Supreme Court to rule swiftly, with just over six months until the November election.
Trump—the presumptive Republican candidate to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden, despite his 88 felony charges in four ongoing criminal cases—is arguing that presidential immunity should protect him from federal charges for trying to overturn his 2020 loss to Biden, which culminated in the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Justices across the ideological spectrum didn't seem inclined to support Trump's broad immunity claims—which critics have said "reflect a misreading of constitutional text and history as well as this court's precedent." However, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) shared examples of what it would mean if they did.
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The organization was far from alone in demanding a quick decision from the nation's highest court.
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In Bush v. Gore, the case that decided the 2000 election, the high court issued a related stay on December 9, heard oral arguments on December 11, and issued a final decision on December 12.
On Thursday, the arguments "got away from the central question: Is a former president immune from criminal prosecution if he tried to overthrow a presidential election, using private means and the power of his office to do so?" the Brennan Center noted. "The answer is simple: No."
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In a departure from previous claims, Trump's attorney, D. John Sauer, "appeared to agree with Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the prosecution, that there are some allegations in the indictment that do not involve 'official acts' of the president," NBC Newsreported, noting questions from liberal Justice Elena Kagan and conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a Trump appointee.
Barrett summarized various allegations from the indictment and in three cases—involving dishonest election claims, false allegations of fraud, and fake electors—Sauer conceded that Trump's alleged conduct sounded private, suggesting that a more narrow case against the ex-president that excluded any potential official acts could proceed.
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According to NBC:
Matthew Seligman, a lawyer and a fellow at the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School who filed a brief backing prosecutors, said Sauer's concessions highlight that Trump is "not immune for the vast majority of the conduct alleged in the indictment."
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At the same time, Sauer's backtracking might have little consequence from an electoral perspective. Further delay in a trial, which Sauer is close to achieving, is a form of victory in itself.
Slate's Mark Joseph Stern pointed out that when Barrett similarly questioned Michael Dreeben, the U.S. Department of Justice lawyer arguing the case for Smith, it seemed like they "were trying to work out some compromise wherein the trial court could distinguish between official and unofficial acts, then instruct the jury not to impose criminal liability on the former."
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Stern and other experts signaled that the decision likely comes down to Barrett and Chief Justice John Roberts, with the three liberals seemingly supporting the prosecution of Trump and the other four conservatives suggesting it is unconstitutional.
People for the American Way president Svante Myrick said in a statement that "today's argument brought both good and bad news. It was chilling to hear Donald Trump's lawyer say that staging a military coup could be considered part of a president's official duties."
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According to the protest organizers:
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