ACSBlog: The Blog of the American Constitution Society

Earlier today, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in one of the Term's most widely-watched cases, Boumediene v. Bush (consolidated with Al Odah v. United States), concerning whether Guantanamo Bay detainees have a right to bring habeas challenges to their detention.

In the past several weeks, ACS has made available a range of materials to inform and educate observers of the cases:

• Guantánamo is Here: The Military Commissions Act and Noncitizen Vulnerability, an ACS Issue Brief in which American University Washington College of Law Professor Muneer I. Ahmad examines how the Military Commissions Act of 2006 allocates rights premised on a distinction between citizens and noncitizens, which, he argues, is supported by neither law nor reason.
  
  
• Video (or selected excerpts) and a transcript of a discussion on "Detainee Treatment Under the Military Commissions Act" at the 2007 ACS National Convention, featuring U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Dwight H. Sullivan, Chief Defense Counsel, Office of Military Commissions.
  
  
• A series of first-hand reports from Guantanamo Bay, from authors including:
  
  
  • Former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois Thomas P. Sullivan, of Jenner & Block;
    
    
  • Human Rights First attorneys Priti Patel (analyzing flaws in the military commissions process) and Devon Chafee (who discussed concerns about impartiality and access to evidence before later noting that "the military commission system . . . has met with little success under any standard of measurement."); and
    
    
  • Cecilia Wang of the ACLU Immigrant Rights Project.