A spectrum of constitutional thinking

Opening briefs were filed today in the Supreme Court by the parties and amicus curiae who oppose the lower court’s decision in favor of the U.S. government in the Boumediene case. The issues presented are (1) whether the Military Commissions Act of 2006 validly stripped federal court jurisdiction over habeas corpus petitions filed by foreign citizens imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay and (2) whether the petitioners’ indefinite military imprisonment as enemy combatants is unlawful, thus requiring the grant of habeas corpus. Boumediene’s brief is here. The other briefs in support of petitioners are collected here.
One of these briefs was filed by Sen. Arlen Specter. Specter’s brief asks the Court to “hold that the [Military Commissions] Act’s attempt to curtail the Guantanamo detainees’ access to habeas corpus in constitutionally infirm.” Oddly, though, Specter voted in favor of the Act.
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