Detainees Get Third Round at High Court

A detainee is moved by military guards at the detention center at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba in this May 1, 2007 file photo. The Supreme Court is scheduled to consider whether the 300-plus prisoners held at Guantanamo, most of whom have never been charged with a crime, can go to U.S. courts to challenge their confinement. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File) (Brennan Linsley - AP)

The case has attracted 26 court filings on behalf of the detainees. Among those weighing in are Canadian and European lawmakers; former U.S. judges, diplomats and military officers; Israeli law professors; human rights organizations; liberal interest groups; the libertarian Cato Institute; and Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa.

Four legal briefs, from retired military officers, national security organizations and conservative public interest law firms, are supporting the administration.

Jonathan Hafetz, a lawyer for the detainees, said the case tests "whether the U.S. can establish lawless enclaves, prisons beyond the law."

The detainees' lawyers say most were not seized on a battlefield, but rather were handed over by local warlords in Afghanistan and Pakistan for large bounties. Others, like those in Bosnia, were picked up far from the fighting in Afghanistan.

They were moved to the U.S. base in Cuba beginning in early 2002, a few months after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The justices initially turned down the detainees' latest appeal, but reversed course in June. They provided no explanation. But their action followed a declaration from a military officer who alleged the U.S. military panels that classified detainees as enemy combatants for the past four years relied on vague and incomplete intelligence.

The detainees' lawyers feel good about their chances at the Supreme Court because five of the nine justices must agree to take a case that previously has been denied a hearing. Ordinarily, just four justices must vote to hear a case.

Attached to the Algerian-Bosnian detainees' appeal are excerpts from the review panel that considered whether one of them, Mustafa Ait Idir, had been properly classified an enemy combatant.

The government said Idir associated "with a known al-Qaida operative" and planned to attack the embassy. He was not given the name of the operative or any evidence linking him to the plot.

"If a supervisor came to me and showed me accusations like these, I would take these accusations and I would hit him in the face with them," he said, interrupted by laughter from everyone in the room, according to the transcript. "Why? Because these are accusations that I can't even answer."

The cases are Boumediene v. Bush, 06-1195, and Al Odah v. U.S., 06-1196.

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