Ex-Gitmo inmates ask Supreme Court to declare them ‘persons’

[kpete]

Source: Raw Story


Ex-Gitmo inmates ask Supreme Court to declare them ‘persons’

By Stephen C. Webster

Published: August 24, 2009


Attorneys for four prior Guantánamo Bay prisoners have filed a second petition with the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking a review of a lower court’s decision that foreign nationals held in the prison not “persons” and have no Constitutional rights.

On behalf of Ruhal Ahmed, Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal and Jamal Al-Harith, all of whom have since been freed without charge, attorneys filed a similar brief with the Supreme Court earlier this year. The court granted the request, knocking a lower court’s decision that they were not “persons,” had no Constitutional rights and were not protected from torture or religious persecution.

The decision was sent back to the District of Colombia Circuit Court of Appeals for reconsideration. Upon review, the D.C. court essentially restated its ruling, maintaining there were no such protections for the men, who were never proved to have committed any crimes related to terrorism or otherwise, and that government officials who allegedly ordered and carried out their torture were immune to prosecution.

The Supreme Court’s decision to remand the D.C. court’s first ruling was a legal rebuke to the extraordinary military justice system set up by President George W. Bush to try “enemy combatants” seized as part of the government’s “war on terrorism.”

Read more: http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/08/24/ex-gitmo-inmates-ask-supreme-court-to-declare-them-persons/

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R

[Chemisse]

2. What a step up that would be

To be considered a 'person.'

What have we become for this to be a serious request?

[Piewhacket]

7. Indeed. Shades of Bicentennial Man.

[gratuitous]

3. They think they're just as good as corporations now, do they?

Well, forget that.

[puebloknot]

5. What cheek! nt

[Umbral]

9. Maybe they should file Articles of Incorporation instead. nt

[pleah]

4. K&R

[puebloknot]

6. Shades of Standing Bear! From the book "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" ...

... there is a chapter called "Standing Bear Becomes a Person." How do we know? A high court grudgingly said so -- even though his relatives had been in America a *lot* longer than the magistrate's relatives had been!

Go figure! "All men are created equal," and like that!

[defendandprotect]

8. k i c k

[Joe Bacon]

10. Fat chance with this court

They will go down 5-4 and 19th Century Fox will have an whorergasm over Sotamayor being in the minority.

[damntexdem]

11. Sorry, the SCOTUS only thinks that corporations are persons.

But a 5-4 majority might grant some relief here -- or might not.

[bemildred]

12. We are every bit as good as a corporation! nt