U.S. Detention Policies Face Continued Criticism and Legal Challenges

In September 2005, the U.S. government policies on detainees in the war on terrorism continued to generate litigation and controversy. On September 8, 2005, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held a hearing on two federal district cases, in which the judges reached opposite conclusions on whether the prisoners had a right to have federal courts examine their detentions. In one case Judge Joyce Hens Green ruled they did have the right and in a second case Judge Richard J. Leon ruled that, despite the June 28, 2004 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the naval base at Guant?namo Bay, Cuba, was not outside the jurisdiction of the U.S. law, the prisoners could never win a habeas corpus ruling?[more]