WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate voted Thursday to bar foreign terror suspects at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, from filing lawsuits in American courts to challenge their detentions, despite a Supreme Court ruling last year that granted such access.
In a 49-42 vote, senators added the provision by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., to a sweeping defense policy bill.
Under the provision, Guantanamo Bay detainees would be allowed to appeal their status as an ``enemy combatant'' one time, to the Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. But they would not be able to file petitions known as writs of habeas corpus, which are used to fight unlawful detentions, in that or any other U.S. court.
``For 200 years, ladies and gentlemen, in the law of armed conflict, no nation has given an enemy combatant, a terrorist, an al-Qaida member the ability to go into every federal court in this United States and sue the people that are fighting the war for us,'' Graham told his colleagues.
Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., said the provision was a major mistake and deserved scrutiny. ``It's contrary to the way the court decisions have come down already. It is an extraordinary step for this Congress to be taking,'' he said.
| Yes, it's contrary, because the majority of Senators believe the courts are wrong. And it's extraordinary only in that the Congress is showing some spine. |
Democrats indicated they may try to kill or change the provision before the Senate votes on the overall bill next week. Five Democrats sided with 44 Republicans in voting for the provision.
The Senate's approval of Graham's amendment followed Monday's Supreme Court decision to review a constitutional challenge to the Bush administration's military trials for suspected foreign terrorists held at the U.S. naval base in Cuba. In 2004, the Supreme Court said the 500 or so prisoners held there could file habeas corpus petitions in U.S. courts to fight their detentions. Many of the prisoners were captured in Afghanistan and have been held at Guantanamo for several years without being charged. Since that ruling, prisoner lawsuits against the government have piled up.
Graham sought to curb what he called ``lawsuit abuse,'' arguing that prisoners of war and enemy combatants have never before been given access to U.S. courts. But Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said it was too broad and would effectively reverse the Supreme Court's previous decision on the issue of detainees rights. ``It is inconsistent with what the Supreme Court did,'' he said.
| And the Congress has the constitutional power to limit court access. You can look it up. |
Human-rights groups also cried foul. ``Depriving an entire branch of government of its ability to exercise meaningful oversight is a decidedly wrong course to take,'' said Elisa Massimino, the Washington director of Human Rights First. |