Habeas corpus hopes ride on cases

WASHINGTON, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- Human rights advocates hope a decision in cases set to be heard next week by the U.S. Supreme Court will finally protect the right to access the courts.

The right of habeas corpus, literally "you have the body," allows the courts to issue a writ -- known as the "Great Writ" -- forcing the executive branch to justify why someone is being held in detention, and is one of the core principles of English and U.S. law.

But the right is statutory, dependent on law and court cases: President Lincoln, for instance, suspended habeas corpus during the civil war.

Now the federal Military Commissions Act denies the right to those foreign nationals labeled "enemy combatants" by the president.

The cases before the high court, Boumedienne vs. Bush and Al Odah vs. United States, were brought by lawyers for Guantanamo detainees who want the right to take their cases to the U.S. courts for independent review.

Some detainee advocates say a decision could affect not just the detainees, but the more than 11 million legal immigrants in the United States, and critics see the White House policy on the detainees as part of a larger effort to trim constitutional rights in general.

Jonathan Hafetz of the Washington-based Brennan Center for Justice said he believes the high court has a message for the Bush administration: "Every (high court) post 9-11 decision has made clear that even a state of war is not a blank check."

In a larger sense, Hafetz said, the case is a test of whether "the United States can establish lawless enclaves" overseas where the courts cannot protect detainees.

Hafetz and other detainee advocates say the best outcome in the case would be for the Supreme Court to rule that habeas corpus is a constitutional right, regardless of federal law.

(Boumediene vs. Bush 06-1195; Al Odah vs. United States 06-1196)