ACLJ: Supreme Court Must Back President Bush's Decision to Hold Terrorism Detainees in Cuba.

Business Editors

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 20, 2004

The American Center for Law and Justice, which filed an amicus brief supporting the position of the Department of Justice in a case involving the detention of enemy combatants in Cuba, said today's oral arguments in the case give the U.S. Supreme Court an important opportunity to uphold the President's authority to act during a time of war to protect Americans at home and abroad.

"This is the first of a series of cases where the Supreme Court has a critical opportunity to protect the constitutional separation of powers and safeguard the President's authority in matters of war," said Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel of the ACLJ, who attended oral arguments at the Supreme Court today. "In the case of detaining enemy combatants in Cuba, it's clear that the President and the Department of Defense acted responsibly and are complying with both domestic and international law in the handling of these detainees. There is no legal precedent for permitting these detainees to have access to the U.S. court system. Their classification as 'enemy combatants' is proper and necessary in protecting America from further acts of terrorism."

The ACLJ filed an amicus brief in the cases of Rasul v. Bush and Al Odah v. Bush. (Case Nos. 03-334 & 03-343) on behalf of itself and its two affiliate organizations: The European Centre for Law and Justice, an organization that deals with human rights issues in Europe and based in Strasbourg, France, and the Slavic Centre for Law and Justice, a human rights organization based in Moscow, Russia.

The brief, posted at www.aclj.org, contends that the detainees - which include members of the Taliban and al-Qaeda - are unlawful combatants - and therefore not subject to the protections afforded by the Geneva Convention relative to the treatment of Prisoners of War. Further, the brief contends that President Bush, as Commander-in-Chief of U.S. Armed Forces, acted appropriately and constitutionally in ordering the detainees to be held in Cuba.

The brief states that "the Guantanamo detainees are not criminal suspects. Rather, they are enemy combatants captured during the ongoing war on terrorism. Their detention is preventive - to ensure that they do not again take up arms against United States forces - not punitive."

Further, the brief argues that "it is the law of war that governs United States conduct regarding the detainees and the detainees' legal status, not the United States domestic criminal justice system with its well-established rights, protections, and obligations. The detainees at Guantanamo are captured enemy combatants, not criminals under United States domestic law."

The ACLJ also has filed amicus briefs in two other terrorism cases involving Yasir Hamdi and Jose Padilla - two enemy combatants. The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in those cases on April 28.

The American Center for Law and Justice specializes in constitutional law and remains committed to upholding the integrity of our constitutional system of government based on the separation of powers. The ACLJ is based in Washington, D.C. and website address: www.aclj.org.