The supplementary appropriations bill signed by President Obama yesterday doesn't just prevent funds from being allocated to relocate Gitmo prisoners, it forces the president to submit regular reports to Congress on the legal status of each detainee, as well as a “summary of the evidence, intelligence, and information used to justify the detention of each detainee.” Daphne Eviatar thinks the provision might be unconstitutional because it effectively denies the detainees' Habeas rights. Deborah Pearlstein explains more about the legislation and its legal background. What's significant about the provisions on detainees is that it's clearly not meant to ensure that the detainees themselves are given justice. It's meant to give Congress influence over which detainees are safe enough to let go--which, given Congress' paranoid reaction to the Chinese Uighurs who were declared not to be dangerous and ordered released, means essentially no one. -- A. Serwer
