Update: (June 12, 2008) The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, ruled that foreign detainees at Guantanamo Bay can seek review of the legality of their detentions in federal court.  More

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New York, NY, August 24, 2007 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today joined a coalition of human rights, public interest and religious groups in a "friend of the court" brief supporting the rights of detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to seek review of the legality of their detentions in federal court.

The brief in Boumediene v. Bush and al Odah v. U.S. challenges a law recently passed by Congress which strips U.S. federal courts of jurisdiction over pending habeas corpus petitions filed by foreign citizen detainees held at Guantanamo.  It asserts that "the Framers of our Constitution expressly ensured that habeas corpus would be available to permit the Judiciary to check absolute Executive power."

The cases are on appeal from a 2-1 decision by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued on February 20, 2007.

"Winning the war on terror is critically important, but we must find a way to provide security without undermining America's enduring respect for the rule of law and our system of checks and balances," said Glen S. Lewy, ADL National Chair, and Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director.  "Allowing detainees to be held – perhaps indefinitely – without a meaningful opportunity to challenge their detention is contrary to American principles of fairness and due process and our commitment to civil liberties."

The brief was prepared by the law firm Fulbright & Jaworski.

In 2004, ADL joined an amicus brief in support of detainees' rights to due process in Rasul v. Bush.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.