Government Files Opposition to Al Odah Cert. Petition

A few months ago, Bobby wrote a post about one of the Guantanamo habeas petitions currently pending at the Supreme Court, Al Odah v. Obama.  Fawzi Khalid Abdullah Fahad Al Odah, who lost his district court case before Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, challenges two main holdings of the D.C. Circuit's June 2010 decision affirming her denial of the writ: that hearsay statements, if sufficiently reliable, can be admitted as evidence against the petitioner, and that a preponderance-of-the-evidence evidentiary standard satisfies due process concerns. Today the government filed its opposition to the Al Odah cert. petition, stating the questions presented as follows:

1. Whether intelligence reports and other “hearsay” evidence commonly used by the military to justify the detention of individuals captured abroad during armed conflict is admissible in habeas corpus proceedings challenging the detention of foreign nationals at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, when a court determines that such evidence is reliable when considered in context.
2. Whether a burden of proof higher than a preponderance of the evidence is constitutionally compelled in these unique habeas proceedings.