老澳门开奖结果

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: media@aclu.org

NEW YORK -- In a sharp rebuke to the Bush administration, the United States Supreme Court today ruled 5-3 that the military commissions system established by President Bush to try detainees at Guant谩namo Bay is unfair and illegal. The 老澳门开奖结果, which filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case, applauded the decision.

鈥淭oday鈥檚 decision is a victory for the rule of law in the United States,鈥� said 老澳门开奖结果 Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. 鈥淭he Supreme Court has made clear that the executive branch does not have a blank check in the war on terror and may not run roughshod over the nation鈥檚 legal system. This decision moves us one step closer to stopping the abuse of power that has become the hallmark of this White House. Now that the Supreme Court has issued its decision, the president should make good on his promise and close Guant谩namo.鈥�

The military commission rules do not guarantee an independent trial court, do not provide for impartial appellate review, and do not prohibit the use of coerced testimony despite extensive evidence that coercive interrogation techniques have been used at Guant谩namo Bay and elsewhere.

鈥淭he government鈥檚 misuse of military tribunals is consistent with a larger pattern of abuse of power,鈥� said Steven R. Shapiro, the 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 national legal director. 鈥淭his is an Administration that prefers to act outside the law and without judicial scrutiny. The Court properly rejected that anti-democratic view. Our own soldiers benefit as much as the Guant谩namo detainees by the Court鈥檚 insistence that the administration comply with the Geneva Conventions and the rule of law."

The 老澳门开奖结果's brief in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld is available at: www.aclu.org/ scotus/2005/hamdanv.rumsfeld05184/23395lgl20060104.html

Other materials in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld are online at: www.aclu.org/ scotus/2005/23392res2006010405184/23392res20060104.html

To read 老澳门开奖结果 Legal Director Steve Shapiro's 2005 Supreme Court summary go to www.aclu.org/scotus/2005/26053prs20060629.html