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DDC Won't Halt Al-Nashiri's Military Commission at GTMO
Such is the gist of Judge Richard Roberts' order, issued yesterday in the context of the high-value Guantanamo detainee's habeas case in D.C.
Published by The Lawfare Institute
in Cooperation With
Such is the gist of Judge Richard Roberts' order, issued yesterday in the context of the high-value Guantanamo detainee's habeas case in D.C. district court.
The opinion opens:
Guantánamo detainee Abd Al Rahim Hussayn Muhammad Al Nashiri submitted an amended petition seeking a writ of habeas corpus, arguing that the respondents’ attempts to try him by military commission would exceed the limits imposed by Congress and the Constitution on the military’s authority to act in lieu of courts of law because none of the crimes alleged against Al Nashiri occurred in the context of a recognized war. Al Nashiri moves for a preliminary injunction preventing the respondents from trying him by military commission before the merits of his habeas petition are decided. The respondents oppose Al Nashiri’s motion, and move to hold his habeas petition in abeyance during the duration of his military commission trial. Because traditional principles of comity and judicial economy support abstaining from exercising equitable jurisdiction over Al Nashiri’s habeas petition during the pendency of his military commission trial, the respondents’ motion to hold in abeyance will be granted, and Al Nashiri’s motion for a preliminary injunction will be denied.
Wells C. Bennett was Managing Editor of Lawfare and a Fellow in National Security Law at the Brookings Institution. Before coming to Brookings, he was an Associate at Arnold & Porter LLP.
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