29 May 2009
This Week from Washington May 29
Podcast on detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Supreme Court nominee Sotomayor
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President Obama said the remaining 240 detainees held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, will be treated according to the rule of law and American values, but none who pose a danger to American citizens and national security will be released.
Obama delivered a 50-minute speech May 21 in front of about 200 people at the National Archives in Washington – the same institution that holds the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence – three documents regarded as America’s “Charters of Freedom” that help define the United States and its values.
The president said that this generation of Americans faces “a great test” when it comes to terrorism and how to treat detainees. Obama laid out a framework for how the United States will proceed in trying those detainees accused of acts of terrorism. The framework aims to conform to accepted U.S. legal practice in how detainees will be confined if convicted by U.S. courts or revised military commissions.
Obama said, quote: “Instead of building a durable framework for the struggle against al-Qaida that drew upon our deeply held values and traditions, our government was defending positions that undermined the rule of law. Indeed, part of the rationale for establishing Guantánamo in the first place was the misplaced notion that a prison there would be beyond the law — a proposition that the [U.S.] Supreme Court soundly rejected. Meanwhile, instead of serving as a tool to counter terrorism, Guantánamo became a symbol that helped al-Qaida recruit terrorists to its cause. Indeed, the existence of Guantánamo likely created more terrorists around the world than it ever detained.” – unquote.
Right now, 240 detainees are confined at the specially designed military detention center on the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo Bay. The detention center was designated in 2001 by then-President George W. Bush as a facility for holding non-U.S. citizens who were believed to have committed acts of terrorism. It began receiving detainees in early 2002. On January 22, 2009, Obama ordered the facility holding detainees to be closed within one year.
The Obama administration is currently in the process of reviewing each of the detainee cases at Guantánamo. The goal is to determine the appropriate policy for dealing with them. The president said the cases will fall into five distinct categories.
First, when feasible, detainees who have violated U.S. criminal laws will be tried in U.S. federal district courts. Obama noted that terrorists have already been tried in federal courts with U.S. citizens sitting on juries, and those found guilty have been sentenced to U.S. federal prisons.
Second, cases involving detainees who violated internationally recognized laws of war will be tried by a revised military commission system that adheres to U.S. Supreme Court decisions and provides added safeguards for detainees’ rights.
In the third category, 21 detainees who have been ordered released by the federal courts because there is no legitimate reason to hold them further will be released.
Fourth, Obama said, some detainees whom authorities have determined can be transferred to another country, will leave as soon as arrangements can be made. The president said the review team has approved 50 detainees for transfer.
Finally, Obama said, some detainees at Guantánamo cannot be prosecuted, but continue to pose a clear danger to the American people. This is the toughest issue the United States will face, he said. Every effort will be made to prosecute those who can be tried who pose a danger to the United States, but even with that, some cannot be prosecuted for a number of legal reasons, the president said.
The administration has begun to reshape these standards to ensure they are in line with the rule of law. The standards being developed must be lawful and fair, and have a thorough process of review. The administration's goal is to construct a legitimate legal framework for Guantánamo detainees, not to avoid one.
Obama’s speech by coincidence came after the U.S. Senate rejected $80 million in funding to close the detention center and blocked transfer of the remaining detainees to the U.S. mainland.
President Obama said May 26 that a U.S. Supreme Court justice should have not only a “mastery of the law” but also “experience being tested by obstacles and barriers.” Following the announcement that Supreme Court Justice David Souter will retire in June, Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor, a U.S. Court of Appeals judge, to serve as a justice on the United States’ highest court. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Sotomayor would be the first Hispanic and the third woman to serve on the Supreme Court. At 54 years old, she also would be the second-youngest judge on the current Supreme Court, just a few months older than Chief Justice John Roberts.
Sotomayor said at the White House that for as long as she can remember, she has been inspired by the achievement of America's Founding Fathers. The principles they set forth have endured for more than two centuries, she said.
Sotomayor has served 11 years as a judge on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a position to which she was nominated by Democratic President Bill Clinton. Prior to that, Republican President George H.W. Bush nominated her in 1992 to serve as a judge on a U.S. District Court, also in New York. Sotomayor has also worked as a lawyer, both for a private-sector firm and as an assistant district attorney in New York City.
Obama praised Sotomayor's career, which has spanned over three decades. She has worked at almost every level of the U.S. judicial system, providing her the experience and perspective that will be invaluable as a Supreme Court justice, according to the president.
Sotomayor’s parents came to New York from Puerto Rico during World War II. Her father died when she was 9. Sotomayor was raised by her mother in a public housing project in the Bronx, a part of New York City. She earned scholarships that helped her attend Princeton University and later attended Yale Law School.
Sotomayor said that she stands on the shoulders of countless people, noting that her mother often worked two jobs to help support her family. The variety of her personal and professional experiences has helped Sotomayor “appreciate the variety of perspectives” that occur in every legal case, she said. Sotomayor’s story suggests that “no dream is beyond reach in the United States of America,” Obama said.
During his presidency, Obama will nominate hundreds of federal judges to serve on courts across the nation. But the judicial nominations that will draw the most attention are the lifetime appointments to the Supreme Court of the United States. Of the many responsibilities granted to a president by our Constitution, few are more serious or more consequential than selecting a Supreme Court justice, Obama said. The Supreme Court is the highest level of the judicial branch of the U.S. government.
The Supreme Court’s nine justices make up the court of final appeal from the lower federal and state courts. Political experts believe it is likely Obama will make more than one appointment to the Supreme Court during his presidency.
As outlined in Article II of the U.S. Constitution, a Supreme Court justice -- like Cabinet officials and other political appointees -- is nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. Before making his decision on Sotomayor, Obama said, he consulted with members of Congress from both political parties, including every member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The committee will hold hearings and question the nominee before the full Senate votes.
The current court is roughly divided between four justices generally considered liberal and four who are generally considered conservative. Souter, despite being appointed by a Republican president, tends to be among the liberal justices, along with John Paul Stevens, Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsberg. The conservative justices are Chief Justice Roberts, Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. Justice Anthony Kennedy frequently serves as a swing vote in the middle.
During the hearing process, senators often will question nominees on their judicial record and views on constitutional issues. This process can be contentious, especially when committee members are trying to gauge a nominee’s views on a controversial issue.
Although the Constitution imposes specific age, residency and citizenship qualifications for the president of the United States and members of Congress, it sets no similar qualifications for Supreme Court justices. There is also no constitutional requirement that the court have nine justices. No prior experience as a judge, expertise as a constitutionalist, or legal training is mandated.
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