Washington - Lawyers for prisoners in the war on terrorism
appeared before the US Supreme Court on Wednesday seeking the right
for their clients to challenge their detention at Guantanamo Bay,
Cuba, in the federal court system.
The cases, Boumediene versus Bush and al-Odah versus the United
States, marked the third time in as many years Guantanamo detainees
have gone to the highest US court seeking access to the federal
system.
Attorneys representing US President George W Bush's
administration argued that the detainees were already able to
challenge their detention through an existing legal process set up by
the US military in Guantanamo.
During the hearing, the nine-member bench debated whether the
United States was technically at war, which Justice Antonin Scalia
said would justify the indefinite holding of the detainees.
'We had 400,000 German prisoners in this country during World War
II ... and not a single habeas petition,' he said, using the legal
term for the right of prisoners to challenge their case.
Justice David Souter, however, told the government lawyers that
it was important for federal courts to consider legal arguments from
the detainees.
'If you win we never get to these issues,' Souter said.
The Supreme Court has already twice ruled in 2004 and 2006
against attempts by the Bush administration to bar terrorism
suspects from challenging their detentions in federal court.
The last ruling didn't strike down the policy, but instead
ordered Bush to get congressional approval for the military
commissions set up by the White House to try the detainees. Congress
later passed legislation authorizing the process.
Government lawyers told the bench under the rules that detainees
can challenge legal aspects of the military process in the federal
courts, even though they cannot specifically challenge their cases.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
USA
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