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GUEST: Marjorie Cohn, author of the new book “Cowboy Republic: Six Ways the Bush Gang Has Defied the Law.” She is also a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and president of the National Lawyers Guild

The Supreme Court heard arguments this week in a case involving the rights of detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The case of Boumediene vs. Bush involves 37 of the detainees, most of who have been imprisoned for the duration of the “war on terror.” Former solicitor general Seth Waxman, together with the Center for Constitutional Rights is representing the men. At the heart of the matter is the right of the prisoners to Habeas Corpus. This is the third case on Guantanamo detainees heard by the Supreme Court since prisoners began being held there in 2001. In the previous two rulings, Rasul v. Bush (2004) and Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (2006), the Court ruled in favor of the detainees. However, since Congress passed the Military Commissions Act the prisoners have remained in legal limbo. Meanwhile, an Army major yesterday offered the first testimony in a U.S. military war crimes proceeding since the end of World War Two in the case of Salim Ahmed Hamdan, Osama bin Laden’s former driver.

Read Marjorie Cohn’s article about the Guantanamo cases here: http://marjoriecohn.com/2007/
12/guantnamo-detainees-fate-at-stake-in.html