1. Executive Order Directing the Attorney General to Acquire the Thomson Correction Center
Available here. And for an interesting assessment of whether relocation of a detainee from GTMO to the TCC would require refilling that person’s habeas petition in the Northern District of Illinois, see the take provided here by Steve Vladeck (his answer: probably not). And if you are dying for more commentary on the pros-cons of the TCC development, check out the debate underway at NYT’s Room for Debate blog, here.
2. Hatim v. Bush (D.D.C. Dec. 16, 2009) (granting habeas to GTMO petitioner)
Meanwhile, habeas review of individual GTMO detainee cases continues. After a win for the government that I reported yesterday, today brings a defeat. Judge Urbina has granted habeas relief to Hatim (Case No. 05-cv-1429), according to a notice placed on the docket today. The opinion explaining the ruling at this point is classified; I’ll circulate the unclassified version if and when it becomes available.
By Robert M. Chesney
Robert M. Chesney is Charles I. Francis Professor in Law at UT-Austin School of Law. Chesney is a national security law specialist, with a particular interest in problems associated with terrorism. Professor Chesney recently served in the Justice Department in connection with the Detainee Policy Task Force created by Executive Order 13493. He is a member of the Advisory Committee of the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Law and National Security, a senior editor for the Journal of National Security Law & Policy, an associate member of the Intelligence Science Board, a non-resident senior fellow of the Brookings Institution, a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a member of the American Law Institute. Professor Chesney has published extensively on topics ranging from detention and prosecution in the counterterrorism context to the states secrets privilege. He served previously as chair of the Section on National Security Law of the Association of American Law Schools and as editor of the National Security Law Report (published by the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Law and National Security). His upcoming projects include two books under contract with Oxford University Press, one concerning the evolution of detention law and policy and the other examining the judicial role in national security affairs.
View all of Robert M. Chesney's posts.
