30/06/2006
By Rocky Mountain News
Two Denver attorneys who have represented detainees at Guantanamo hailed Thursday's Supreme Court ruling as a landmark decision that upholds some of the core values of the United States legal system.
"The rule of law has been vindicated," said Anne Castle, one of several lawyers with the firm of Holland and Hart who have represented five detainees at Guantanamo.
Only one of those detainees has been charged with a crime in the nearly four years since their arrests. "The federal courts are set up to determine whether people are being held legally or not," Castle said. "The Department of Defense efforts have been to undermine that authority of the federal courts." One of the five people whom the lawyers have represented on a pro-bono basis was charged last summer with conspiracy. In that case, Castle and her colleagues are deferring to military counsel and other criminal defense attorneys. But the four other cases have been waiting on the outcome of Thursday's ruling, she said. "That's all we've been doing on behalf of these people," she said. "Make sure they get charged if they (prosecutors) have evidence that they have committed a crime. And if they don't have evidence, we shouldn't be holding them." John Holland (not a member of Holland and Hart) and his daughter also have been representing four detainees. He described the court's 5-3 ruling as "extraordinary." "You don't see very many decisions of this magnitude from the Supreme Court," he said after reading the 185-page decision. "It's a tremendous reaffirmation of the core values of our country against unjustified government resistance."
SOURCE: Rocky Mountain News |
