The prisoners of Guantanamo Bay were given a glimmer of hope yesterday when a federal judge ruled that they can challenge their imprisonment in U.S. courts. Judge Joyce Hens Green also said that the military tribunals used to try the prisoners were unfair and unconstitutional. This ruling is a vital reinforcement of the Supreme Court ruling that prisoners can contest their incarceration, and it brings the detainees under U.S. constitutional law.
By holding the Guantanamo detainees under U.S. law, Judge Green is asserting that the American legal tradition is strong enough to withhold any terrorist threat. The Bush administration claimed that the prisoners had no legal or constitutional rights. This interpretation is dangerous, because it allows for the rights guaranteed by the fifth and sixth amendments to be repealed in the name of the War on Terror.
Foreign nationals are put on trial and held to the same laws as U.S. citizens. There is no reason for those held in Guantanamo not to have a trial before a jury, with access to counsel and material to support their defense. The Bush administration wants to classify the detainees as "enemy combatants" and hold them to whatever legal standard fits the administration's goals.
Under the guise of "enemy combatants," the United States could detain prisoners at Guantanamo Bay without charge until the War on Terror is over. According to The Guardian, only four of approximately 550 detainees have been charged with a crime. Green pointed out that prisoners could be held for an indefinite period of time, since President Bush himself has admitted that the War on Terror could take generations to finish.
Yet, one Australian and four British prisoners were able to return to their home countries without a military tribunal last week. Why should detainees with a first-world legal system to fall back on be the only ones spared from unfair imprisonment?
Unsurprisingly, the Justice Department will appeal this ruling, likely taking it back to the Supreme Court at some point. Hopefully the Supreme Court justices will uphold Green's ruling to give Guantanamo detainees a right to a fair trial under American law.
The American legal tradition was built to be universally applicable. The Founding Fathers wrote the Bill of Rights and the Constitution with the intention that the principles set forth would always be upheld. By not according constitutional rights or a fair trial to the Guantanamo detainees, the Bush administration is admitting that our rights are only applicable when it is in the administration's political interests. It is vital to accord constitutional rights to those held in Guantanamo Bay to ensure that they will continue to be accorded to all U.S. citizens.
