Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), a member of the Senate Judiciary and Intelligence Committees and a former Rhode Island U.S. Attorney and Attorney General, commented today on the Supreme Court’s decision allowing detainees held at Guantanamo Bay to challenge their detention in U.S. courts:
“The Court made the right decision today, and for the third straight time has rejected this Administration’s arguments that its authority is unlimited and that its powers are unchecked by the Constitution. The Court’s ruling acknowledges that the right of habeas corpus is fundamental to our democracy and our system of justice, even, as Justice Kennedy wrote today, ‘in extraordinary times.’
“Like Congress’s passage of legislation that bans abusive interrogation techniques, this decision represents a return to our most deeply-held values, and I hope any further action taken by the President or the Congress in this matter will uphold the principles the Court has so strongly affirmed.”
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