Boumediene v. Bush (U.S. Supreme Court)

Foreign nationals detained at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay applied for writs of habeas corpus. After the D.C. Circuit concluded that the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA) stripped the federal courts of jurisdiction to consider the detainees’ applications and that the they were not entitled to the writ or the protections of the Constitution’s Suspension Clause, the detainees petitioned for certiorari. We filed an amicus brief in favor of the detainees. When the Supreme Court granted certiorari, we filed an amicus brief on behalf of retired military officers that explained the ramifications of the government’s position that the detainees could be held indefinitely without any meaningful judicial review of their imprisonment. The Supreme Court reversed the D.C. Circuit, holding that the detainees do have the privilege of habeas corpus and that the MCA unconstitutionally suspended the writ.