Restoring Habeas Corpus

Dr. Claude O. Pressnell, Jr.

President, Tennessee Independent Colleges and Universities Association

Wyndy Corbin Reuschling

Associate Professor of Ethics and Theology,

Ashland Theological Seminary

Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, Jr.

President, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference

Fleming Rutledge

Priest, Episcopal Diocese of New York

Will Samson

Director, The Faith and Society Project

Mark Sargent

Provost, Gordon College

Kevin Saxton

Associate Pastor,

Brewster Baptist Church,

Brewster, MA

Rev. Dr. Douglas Scalise

Senior pastor,

Brewster Baptist Church, Brewster, MA

Rev. Ken Sehested

Circle of Mercy Congregation

Ron Sider

Professor of Theology and Culture and Director of the Sider Center on Ministry and Public Policy, Palmer Theological Seminary, Founder, Evangelicals for Social Action

Glen Stassen

Lewis B. Smedes Professor of Christian Ethics, Fuller Theological Seminary

Clyde D. Taylor

U.S. Ambassador, retired

Knox Thames,

Columbia Baptist Church,

Falls Church, VA

Reverend Thomas E. Trask

General Superintendent,

General Council of the Assemblies of God

Miroslav Volf

Henry B. Wright Professor of Theology

Director, Yale Center for Faith and Culture

Yale Divinity School

Berten A. Waggoner

National Director,

Vineyard Churches USA

Richard E. Waldrop

Associate Prof. of World Mission and Evangelism,

Church of God Theological Seminary

Jim Wallis

President, Sojourners/Call to Renewal

Michael L. Westmoreland-White, Ph. D.

Theological Consultant, Every Church a Peace Church

Nicholas Wolterstorff

Noah Porter Professor of Philosophical Theology, Yale University

April 30, 2007

The Honorable Members of the United States Senate

The Honorable Members of the United States House

of Representatives

Washington, DC 20510

Re:

Pending Efforts to Restore Habeas Corpus Jurisdiction Relating to
Guantánamo Prisoners

Dear Honorable Members of the United States Senate and Honorable Members of the United States House of Representatives:

We are former United States Attorneys and former senior officials in the United States Department of Justice who ask that you support pending efforts to ensure that the United States District Court in Washington, D.C. has jurisdiction over habeas corpus claims brought by Guantánamo Bay prisoners. As you may know, in Rasul v. Bush, 542 U.S. 466 (2004) and Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 126 S. Ct. 2749 (2006), the United States Supreme Court ruled that the district courts have jurisdiction to hear those claims. However, in the Detainee Treatment Act (2005) and the Military Commissions Act (2006), Congress enacted measures that purported to strip the district court of jurisdiction over the petitions of the prisoners. The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia recently voted 2-1 that the congressional enactments deprive the district court of jurisdiction to hear the petitions, and the United States Supreme Court denied certiorari, with three justices dissenting and two others stating that this was not the time to grant review.

We urge you to support ongoing legislative efforts to restore the traditional power of all courts in our federal judiciary to hear and decide habeas corpus petitions.

Some of us are Republicans and some of us are Democrats. What we have in common is that each of us is proud to have served this country as a federal prosecutor. As United States Attorneys and senior DOJ officials, it was our duty to prosecute - on behalf of all citizens offenses against the United States, and we swore an oath to faithfully execute that duty.

The Honorable Members of the United States Senate

The Honorable Members of the United States House of Representatives
April 30, 2007

Page 2

It was fundamentally important to us that the justice system be both effective and fair. We took pride in being an integral part of a system that provided every defendant with fundamental rights, including the right to habeas corpus, the right against self-incrimination, the right to an attorney, and the right to a fair trial. While serving the United States, we were committed to due process and the rule of law, the pillars of our nation's proud legal tradition. We continue to believe strongly in these principles.

Currently, only ten of the approximately 385 men held at Guantánamo have been charged with war crimes before military commissions, and plans have been announced to charge 14 more men who were transferred in 2006 to Guantánamo from CIA prisons. That leaves approximately 360 men who may never be brought before a military commission. For these men, habeas corpus is the only meaningful method to challenge the legality of their detention. They filed petitions for habeas corpus years ago, but none has yet been heard.

The right of habeas corpus was enshrined in the Constitution by our Founding Fathers so that anyone the Executive detains may challenge the lawfulness of his detention. It is a vital part of our system of checks and balances, and an important safeguard against mistakes which may be made even by well-intentioned government officials. The rights the American justice system provides to those imprisoned promote the credibility and validity of the system itself. If the men at Guantánamo are not provided these rights, a cloud will always remain over the validity of their detention.

We urge you to uphold the fundamental rights that countless Americans have fought and died for by ensuring that the men at Guantánamo have the right to challenge their detentions in a court of law. Thank you very much for your consideration of the views expressed in this letter.

Sincerely,

The Honorable Members of the United States Senate

The Honorable Members of the United States House of Representatives April 30, 2007

Page 3

Robert L. Barr, Jr.