Gitmo Detainees Lose in D.C. Circuit

SCOTUS Blog reports (with links to the opinions) that, ruling in a case of four Britons who formerly were detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the D.C. Circuit decided today that the prisoners have no right to sue top Pentagon officials and military officers for allegedly torturing them and defiling their religious beliefs while they were held at the military prison. The Court applied several different legal theories in rejecting all of the claims of abuse and arbitrary imprisonment, but the end result was that there was nothing left of the detainees’ legal challenge. In a second ruling Friday affecting individuals captured during the “war on terrorism,” the Circuit Court decided that the Pentagon has no legal duty to release to the public the opinions or advice that outsiders gave to the government on the creation of “military commissions” to try war crimes charges against detainees. Both of the rulings — Rasul v. Myers (rejecting the torture and abuse claims), and National Institute of Military Justice v. Department of Defense (06-5242), can be found on the opinions page of the D.C. Circuit under Friday’s date.

KJ

UPDATE:  For commentary, click here and here.