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Contact: Andrew
Rush
Director, Media Services & Public Affairs
arush@nysba.org
518/487-5530
June 24, 2008
NEW
YORKSTATE BAR ASSOCIATION ADVOCATES FOR FAIR
TREATMENT OF DETAINEES
Supports Boumediene v.
Bush, Guantanamo BayDetainees Have Constitutional Right to Challenge
Detention
At its annual summer meeting in Cooperstown, the New
York State Bar Association passed a resolution that supports the United
States Supreme Court decision in Boumediene v. Bush, which held that those who have been designated “enemy
combatants” and detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba are
constitutionally entitled to habeas corpus, allowing them to now
challenge in court the legality of their detention. The resolution was
passed by the Association's House of Delegates, the official
policy-making body of the organization.
Association President Bernice K. Leber
(Arent Fox LLP) said, “Our nation is built
upon key principles of justice and paramount among them has been that
any person detained by the government has the right to go before a
judge. To have ignored one of the most basic and essential tenets of our
constitution would have been a dangerous precedent, contrary to the
system of checks and balances that serves as the foundation of our
democracy.”
Leber continued, “The recent Supreme Court
decision, while granting habeas corpus rights, leaves many questions
unanswered. Our Committee on Civil Rights report, while addressing many
of the open issues involving the right to habeas corpus, will now be
revised in light of Boumediene v. Bush in order to provide recommendations on how to best provide
detainees with the basic rights that, to date, they have not been
receiving. The Association looks forward to actively participating as this
critical national debate moves forward.”
The resolution was offered in conjunction with a
report from the Committee on Civil Rights entitled, “Executive
Detention, Habeas Corpus and the Military Commissions Act of
2006.” The report addresses a
broad range of issues related to the Act, including the applicability of
habeas corpus to detainees in Guantanamo Bayand other extra-territorial detention centers.
The report, completed prior to the Boumediene decision, will now be revised to address the following
issues:
- The Standards applicable to habeas corpus proceedings
concerning Guantanamodetainees that will follow the Boumediene decision;
- The specific rights that must be afforded
to Guantanamodetainees in the proceedings against them; and
- The specific rights of non-citizens detained as
“enemy combatants” in other extra-territorial locations
under the de facto control of the United
States.
These recommendations will be made as soon as possible
and it is anticipated they will be completed by August. The report is
available on the Association's web site at http://www.nysba.org/civilrightsreportJune08.
The 74,000 member New York State Bar Association is
the official statewide organization of lawyers in New
Yorkand the largest
voluntary state bar association in the nation. Founded in 1876, NYSBA
programs and activities have continuously served the public and improved
the justice system for more than 130 years.
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