Federal Judiciary

Kiyemba case: Back to trial court?

By Akin Gump Supreme Court Practice Group

Both sides in the next case due up in the Supreme Court on wartime detention suggested on Friday that the case might return to a federal trial court for a new look, although government lawyers indicated they would then try to scuttle that new review.  Even so, the filing by Justice Department lawyers marked the first time that they conceded that circumstances may exist to keep the case alive.  Both sides were responding to an order of the Court seeking an update on the status of seven Chinese Muslim Uighur detainees who remain in prison at Guantanamo Bay.  The new government brief is here; the new brief by the Uighurs’ lawyers is here.

The Court is scheduled to hear the case of Kiyemba, et al., v. Obama (08-1234) on March 23, but recent developments in the government’s attempt to resettle the Uighurs in a country other than their homeland in China led the Justices to ask whether those events had an impact on the pending case.  In the new letter briefs, the Justice Department repeated its primary preference that the case be dismissed — leaving intact its victory in the D.C. Circuit Court limiting judges’ power to order detainee transfers — and the Uighurs’ lawyer repeated their argument that the Court should go ahead and decide the case, overturn the Circuit Court, and then return the cae to the District Court for another review.

Full post as published by SCOTUSBLOG on February 19, 2010 (boomark / email).