Jonathan Hafetz directs litigation for the Liberty and National Security Project of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law. He is the author of a forthcoming book on post-9/11 detentions, to be published by NYU Press.
The Supreme Court delivers a dramatic blow to the President’s lawless detention policies, overturns an effort by the previous Congress to eliminate the right of habeas corpus and sounds the death knell for Guantánamo Bay prison.
Unless the Supreme Court or Congress intervenes, an appeals court ruling this week on Guantánamo detainees opens the door to a global detention system where people can be moved like pawns in a perversion of American justice.
As the fight against the Administration’s policies on torture and the terror detainees shifts to the Supreme Court, there is reason to be confident that the Justices will again rein in Bush’s power grab.