Brian Foster of Covington & Burling, responds to my comments on his earlier guest post as follows:
I don’t derive a double standard merely from your sympathy for the instinct behind the Latif majority’s factual assessment. I’m focusing on the
Brian Foster of Covington & Burling, who represents several Guantanamo detainees, writes in with the following comments on my defense of CIA lawyer Jonathan Fredman—and the case of his former client, Adnan Latif:
I’m interested in the basis and
Amidst all the hubbub earlier this week, we neglected to note the filing of a new cert. petition in a Guantánamo habeas case–in Obaydullah v. Obama, filed in the Supreme Court on Tuesday. Our coverage of the D.C. Circuit’s … Read more »
The Harvard Law Review has published this article on the Latif decision as its presumption of regularity by a student named Al-Amyn Sumar. The article is dated in two important respects–first, that it argues for cert that was denied just … Read more »
I actually don’t have much to say, now that it’s here, on the New York Times editorial on the detention case cert denials. It is almost exactly the editorial I predicted the Times would run (“the inevitable editorial bashing the … Read more »
A few final thoughts on the topic of DC Circuit fidelity to Hamdi and Boumediene, for the three people still paying attention to us (hi Mom!). Steve’s reply to my intervention helps me better understand his position, and I’m … Read more »
Ben asks: “What are the specific ‘requirements’ the Supreme Court laid out in Boumediene or Hamdi that the D.C. Circuit has refused to honor such that habeas review is not ‘meaningful’ within the meaning of Boumediene?”
I’ve answered … Read more »
I almost wrote into my post earlier today that while I agreed with Steve’s point that Boumediene remained consequential, I suspected he would not agree with the one I was making. I refrained, but it turned out I was right. … Read more »
Being in a time zone very far from home, I am late to the discussion of the cert denials in the Guantanamo cases. I have only one thought to offer beyond what Steve said earlier–with which I almost entirely … Read more »
As Wells already noted, the Supreme Court denied certiorari today without notation or dissent in all of the seven pending Guantanamo “merits” habeas cases (i.e., cases where the central issue goes to whether the government has proven … Read more »
That’s the outcome of orders from the Supreme Court today, an across-the-board denial of review in seven Guantanamo habeas cases: Latif, Al-Bihani, Uthman, Almerfedi, Al-Kandari, Al-Madhwani, and Al-Alwi. For good measure, the Court also voted not to take up … Read more »
As usual, SCOTUSblog has a helpful post summarizing some of the key petitions for certiorari that the Supreme Court’s nine Justices are set to review at their Conference this Friday. I just thought I’d flag it here because two of … Read more »
The government’s opposition to cert in Latif is now public. The government argues that “The decision of the Court of Appeals is correct and does not conflict with any decision of this Court or any other court of appeals. Further … Read more »
The D.C. Circuit has released a less-redacted version of its Latif opinion. I haven’t read it yet, but the D.C. Circuit Review web site has and notes that the new version offers significantly more information about the underlying intelligence … Read more »
Two new amicus briefs concerning the petition for a writ of certiorari in Latif.
The first is on behalf of thirteen retired federal judges, who offer four main arguments:
As This Court Recognized In Boumediene, Meaningful Habeas Review
Raffaela linked to this the other day, but I only now just got around to reading it. Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog has an interesting piece on the various cert petitions in Guantanamo cases now pending before the Supreme Court. While … Read more »
I don’t normally agree on detention policy matters with Seton Hall’s Mark Denbeaux–and there’s certainly some rhetoric in this piece in Jurist that I would never use and conclusiosn I do not reach. That said, I recommend it to those … Read more »
Here it is–redactions and all. Enjoy!
The cert petition in Latif has been filed. So far, only the questions presented have been released publicly. They are as follows:
1. Whether requiring the district court to presume the accuracy of intelligence reports denies Guantanamo habeas petitioners the
If Ben needs something to tear into, there’s also this–my guest post over at the ACSblog, which uses Judge Brown’s disturbing rhetoric in Latif as a foil through which to evaluate this “anniversary.” Reasonable people (including us) … Read more »
Peter Margulies of Roger Williams University School of Law has sent in two accounts of panel discussions at the annual meeting of the American Association of Law Schools. Here is the first:
Federal Courts and National Security: A D.C. Circuit
Counsel for Guantanamo habeas petitioners Uthman, Almerfedi, and Latif–all of whom have cert petitions pending or imminent–have asked the Supreme Court to hold off on deciding whether to grant until the petitions can be considered in concert. In … Read more »
As Lawfare readers know only too well, I don’t engage with He Who Must Not Be Named on this Blog. I do, however, engage with Seema Saifee, who represents four Guantanamo Uighurs (three of whom are no longer detained … Read more »
At least, Adam Liptak does in a well-worth-reading column about Latif. Take that, editorial staff!
On a more serious note, here’s the money quote:
Latif is the next great Guantánamo case–whether the Supreme Court agrees to hear it or
Daphne Eviatar of Human Rights First writes in with the following comments on Latif and the detention provisions of the NDAA:
There’s already been great commentary on the Latif case here from Ben, Sabin Willett and others. On Sunday
What do you think the chances are that the New York Times editorial folks could have managed to produce this editorial–and without any glaring factual errors–without having read this post and this one and this one? And isn’t … Read more »
Sabin Willett, who represented the Guantanamo Uighurs in Parhat and Kiyemba, writes in with the following comments about Latif:
It is not hyperventilation to say, as so many have said, that Latif guts Boumediene, because — trust
Over at the Empty Wheel blog, Marcy Wheeler has a very impressive set of speculations regarding what the mysterious Report at issue in Latif (which I discuss at length here) might be. Here’s her bottom line:
I think the
The D.C. Circuit strongly disfavors en banc review. For longstanding cultural reasons, the court avoids en bancs whenever possible. This is generally a good thing. En bancs can be ugly; they stress a court’s collegiality. The Latif case, however, should … Read more »
The more I study the D.C. Circuit decision in Latif, the more important I think it is, and the more regrettable I think it probably is. I’m going to spread this out over two posts. In this one, which … Read more »
Here’s my question: Why has there been virtually no press coverage of the Latif decision? Other than this article on CNN’s web page, which actually ignores the aspect of the case that makes it jurisprudentially important, a search on Google … Read more »
Peter Margulies of Roger Williams Law School writes in with the following critique of the Latif decision and praise of Judge David Tatel’s dissent. While I don’t agree with every aspect of this analysis, I agree with a great deal … Read more »
I have now read the entirety of Latif, and I am–quite honestly–not entirely sure what to make of it. For one thing, the redactions are extensive, far more so than in the normal D.C. Circuit habeas case. They involve … Read more »
I have only just begun reading the D.C. Circuit’s decision in Latif, but it already clear to me that it is a very big deal. Judge Janice Rogers Brown, for the majority, expressly adopts a presumption in favor of … Read more »
The D.C. Circuit has just released its redacted opinion in the case of Adnan Farhan Abd Al Latif, which it filed on October 14, 2011. The opinion is available here, and Lawfare has covered the case here, here… Read more »
The D.C. Circuit appears to have ruled in the case of Adnan Farhan Abd Al Latif (which Larkin previewed here, the briefs from which she posted here, the argument in which she and I covered here). Latif … Read more »
Last week was a busy one for federal prosecutors in terrorism-related cases (though not atypically so). There were at least four major developments worth highlighting, most of them largely under the national media’s radar. The details, culled from DOJ press … Read more »
Tomorrow morning, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments in Abdah v. Barack Obama (Al Latif) (No. 10-5319). The argument is slated to proceed before Judges Karen LeCraft Henderson, David Tatel, and Janice Rogers Brown—first in open session, … Read more »
Today the final public merits brief became available in the D.C. Circuit case of Abdah v. Obama (No. 10-5319). The petitioner in this case is Adnan Farhan Abd Al Latif, who won his case before Judge Henry Kennedy in July … Read more »
Today the D.C. Circuit released the public version of the appellant’s brief in another habeas merits appeal, Abdah v. Obama, No. 10-5319. In this case, the government appeals Judge Henry Kennedy’s July 2010 opinion granting a writ of habeas … Read more »
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Leading the news: President Obama speaks today at the National Defense University on counterterrorism policy. Many are previewing the speech, including John. According to the New York Times’s Charlie Savage and Peter Baker, Obama will announce more stringent targeting criteria for non-battlefield strikes. This approach will govern the use of force against both citizens and non-citizens.
Here are the Washington … Read more »
