SCOTUScast 6-16-08 featuring Richard Epstein
Boumediene v. Bush and Munaf v. Geren
On June 12, the Supreme Court decided Boumediene v. Bush. The Court held that certain detainees currently being held at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba have a constitutional right to challenge their detention by filing habeas corpus writs and that the alternative remedy provided by Congress was not an adequate substitute. On the same day, in Munaf v. Geren the Court held that the habeas statute confers jurisdiction on federal district courts to consider the habeas petitions of U.S. citizens asserted to have committed crimes in Iraq and detained by U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq pending a transfer to Iraqi authorities for trial or further proceedings following a vacated conviction in an Iraqi criminal court, but that the writ could not be invoked for the transfer of the detainees to Iraqi authorities and hence should have been promptly dismissed on the merits. University of Chicago Law professor Richard Epstein discusses the cases. In a separate SCOTUScast, Baker Hostetler partner David Rivkin also discusses Boumediene.
Oral Argument for Boumediene v. Bush - December 5, 2007:
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/06-1195.pdf
Decision for Boumediene v. Bush - June 12, 2008:
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/07pdf/06-1195.pdf
Oral Argument for Munaf v. Geren - March 25, 2008:
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/06-1666.pdf
Decision for Munaf v. Geren - June 12, 2008:
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/07pdf/06-1666.pdf
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