Fred Korematsu v. George W. Bush

Nat Hentoff
Fred Korematsu v. George W. Bush
'No Law Protects Them, No Court May Hear Their Pleas.'
February 19th, 2004 4:00 PM



Korematsu has authorized an amicus brief to the Supreme Court of the United States, in his name, on behalf of American citizen Yaser Hamdi, designated an "enemy combatant" by President Bush and held for two years in an American navy brig without guaranteed Sixth Amendment access to a lawyer, and without any prospect of a trial at which he can defend himself. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld maintains that Hamdi can be held in this legal black hole for "the duration of hostilities," and that could take generations.

The Bush administration agrees with that holding, saying that our prison camp at Guantánamo is on Cuban soil, beyond the reach of U.S. courts. But our permanent lease of that territory from the Cuban government grants the United States exclusive jurisdiction over the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base.

What the Supreme Court is going to decide about these prisoners is whether they have the right to challenge their imprisonment under the Constitution as well as under laws and treaties of the United States. For example, the 1948 American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, part of the Inter-American System of human rights, declares:

"Every person has the right to be recognized everywhere as a person having rights and obligations, and to enjoy the basic civil rights." The U.S. government ratified that declaration.