"Panel OKs Bill Restoring Detainee Rights" 10 Committee Dems and Specter approve Habeas Corpus bill

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Panel OKs Bill Restoring Detainee Rights
By Associated Press

1 hour ago

WASHINGTON - A bill that would allow terrorism suspects access to federal courts to challenge their imprisonment at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday.

The committee, on an 11-8 vote, advanced a bill that would allow prisoners to protest their detentions by the Bush administration.

All of the committee's Democrats and Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, the committee's top Republican, voted for the legislation. The rest of the GOP senators voted against it.

Congress, while under GOP control last year, stripped federal courts of jurisdiction over Guantanamo cases. As a result, detainees only had recourse to challenge their imprisonment through special military tribunals that omitted rights common in civil courts.

Administration officials and most Republicans say they do not think dangerous terror suspects should have access to federal courts or other rights granted to U.S. citizens under the Constitution.

But Democrats and Specter say a person's right to file a special legal petition to protest detention, known as a writ of habeas corpus, is considered a fundamental right in civilized society. Eliminating that right would undermine the nation's reputation abroad, they said.

The bill passed without debate.

"The great history of our nation is built on having judicial review, on having openness, and we should not out of fear or indifference or whatever turn our back on that great history," said Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.<snip>

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