TLPJ - Press - Supreme Court Upholds Guantanamo Detainees' Right to Fair Trial

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U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Rule of Law and Right to Fair Trial

Equal Justice Under Law. Graphic by Jonathan Hutson

On June 29, 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark decision in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld invalidating the military commissions President Bush established to try the "enemy combatants" held in Guantanamo Bay because they violate the detainees' right to a fair trial under U.S. law and the Geneva Conventions. Trial Lawyers for Public Justice filed an amici curiae brief with an ideologically diverse array of groups urging the Court to rule as it did.

The decision is an enormous victory for access to justice and the rule of law. Justice John Paul Stevens' majority opinion couldn't state the limits on the President's power more plainly:

"In undertaking to try Hamdan and subject him to criminal punishment, the Executive is bound to comply with the Rule of Law that prevails in this jurisdiction."

The lead counsel in Hamdan, Georgetown Law Professor Neal Katyal, will deliver the keynote speech at TLPJ's Annual Meeting on Sunday, July 16, 2006, at 3:00 p.m. Pacific, in Room 4C-2 of the Washington State Convention & Trade Center in Seattle. His topic is crucial -- "The Bush Administration, the War on Terror, and the Rule of Law." The public is invited.

To read the Court's decision in Hamdan, click here.

To read the amici brief TLPJ filed, click here.

The amici brief was filed as part of TLPJ's Access to Justice Campaign in conjunction with the People for the American Way Foundation, the American Jewish Committee, and the Rutherford Institute. Amici briefs opposing the Bush administration's position were also filed by, among others, former U.S. Generals and Admirals, the National Institute of Military Justice, members of the European Union and British Parliaments, and the ACLU.

The law firm of Davis Wright Tremaine, LLP of Seattle and TLPJ Staff Attorney Victoria Ni both had input on this important amici brief.