The Periodic Review Board (PRB) appears to be broken. Since President Trump’s inauguration 21 months ago, the PRB—often described as a parole-like body established to determine whether an individual may be transferred from the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay—has become a one-way ratchet, only ratifying continued detention and never recommending release. This is not to say the PRB has recommended continued detention for all the detainees whose cases it has reviewed since February 2017.

The government has filed a brief in opposition before the Supreme Court regarding Saifullah Paracha's petition for a writ of certiorari over whether certain statutory restrictions regarding the release or transfer of Guantanamo detainees constitute bills of attainder. Paracha, a Pakistani national who has been detained at Guantanamo Bay since 2004, initially filed his petition on Sept. 26, 2017 after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C.

Thursday morning, Judge Rosemary Collyer of the D.C. federal district court will hear argument on whether the government may be compelled to examine Guantanamo Bay detainee and alleged 9/11 conspirator Mohammed al-Qahtani to determine whether he is “eligible for direct repatriation.” Al-Qahtani, whom U.S.

On Tuesday, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral argument in Al-Alwi v. Trump. Chief Judge Merrick Garland, Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson (joining remotely) and Judge Thomas Griffith reviewed the D.C. District Court’s dismissal of Guantanamo detainee Moath Hamza Ahmed al-Alwi’s second habeas petition.