For the first time since he took office, President Barack Obama may see his Guantanamo detention policies tested before the US Supreme Court. This occurred after 14 Chinese Uighurs (members of the predominantly Muslim and Turkinc-speaking Uighur minority) who were detained without any charges lodged a petition for their release. They were captured in Afghanistan in 2001, and have since been cleared of all accusations that they were "enemy combatants". Legal battles regarding their fate still continue.
This case has become a major political headache for the Obama administration, which has sought to avoid a major diplomatic bust-up with China while attempting to unpick detention policies of the preceding administration (that was Bush, for those of you who are still unaware).
The nine justices will decide this summer whether to hear the case that was filed Monday. If the court does decide to hear the case, it may fid itself sucked into the establishment of new rules regarding the detention of terrorsit suspects. Stay tuned, and read the article at the link I posted!
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
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Although I think that this is an important case that deserves to be heard by a higher court, I honestly do not think that the Supreme Court will take it on. As we learned in class earlier this year, most of the proposed cases for the Supreme Court are never addressed. The case will lead to too many problems with China and Obama, and I don't think the Supreme Court would want to risk so much. As for the 14 Chinese Uighurs, are they getting any compensation for being locked up for so long? Even though they have been "cleared of all accusations", they deserve something more than that....does a money compensation seem possible?
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