Facts

 

            “The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public safety may require it.”  Constitution of the United States, Article 1, § 9, CL 2. 

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            Detainees at the American operated Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba, designated by Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRT) as enemy combatants, filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the District Court for the District of Columbia Circuit. The court granted all motions of the United States government for dismissal of all claims brought by the petitioners, holding that non-uniformed enemy combatants under arrest had no habeas rights. The United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit affirmed the trial court’s ruling, holding that “there is no statutory jurisdiction to issue a habeas corpus to these petitioners,” and “the constitutional privilege of habeas corpus was not available to them.”  The detainees were governed by the CRSTs.  The matter came before SCOTUS in December, 2007, Boumediene v. Bush, 553 US 723 (2008).