Hamdan makes closure of Guantanamo less likely

[MARK STEIN]

Not that the Administration was going to close Guantanamo anyway, but closure is less likely in view of the holding that active membership in Al Quaeda is not a prosecutable offense under current law.

The last para. of the decision actually recognizes that if the Administration cannot prosecute, it needs to detain:

"...We have assumed, moreover, the truth of the message implicit in that charge--viz., that Hamdan is a dangerous individual whose beliefs, if acted upon, would cause great harm and even death to innocent civilians, and who would act upon those beliefs if given the opportunity. It bears emphasizing that Hamdan does not challenge, and we do not today address, the Government's power to detain him for the duration of active hostilities in order to prevent such harm....."

Mark
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.ucla.edu/pipermail/conlawprof/attachments/20060629/0488082b/attachment.htm