* In re Petitioners Seeking Habeas Relief in Relation to Prior Detentions at Guantanamo Bay (D.D.C. Apr. 2, 2010)
Judge Hogan has dismissed 105 habeas petitions involving persons who once were held at GTMO but who subsequently were transferred or released. The 24-page opinion is here.
The bottom line: “[T]he Court finds that the District Court no longer has jurisdiction over Petitioners’ habeas petitions. Petitioners are no longer in United States custody and fail to demonstrate that they suffer from collateral consequences of their prior detention that the Court can remedy. Accordingly, the Court will dismiss their habeas claims as moot.” (slip op. at 2)
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.
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