court rejects DOJ on Guantanamo issue

A federal appeals court ordered the government yesterday to turn over virtually all its information on Guantanamo detainees who are challenging their detention, rejecting an effort by the Justice Department to limit disclosures and setting the stage for new legal battles over the government’s reasons for holding the men indefinitely. The court said meaningful review of the military tribunals would not be possible without seeing all the evidence, any more than one can tell whether a fraction is more or less than half by looking only at the numerator and not the denominator.

Advocates for detainees have criticized the tribunals since they were instituted in 2004 because the terror suspects held at Guantanamo have not been permitted lawyers during the proceedings and have not been allowed to see much of the evidence against them. P. Sabin Willett, a Boston lawyer who argued the case for detainees, called the ruling a resounding rejection of the government’s effort to hide the truth.

Fred Soto is an Attorney and Entrepreneur from the Silicon Valley.
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