his copies, studied the documents, and resolved to keep that billing clock ticking above 12th Street, no matter what.
THEY ARRIVED BACK in Washington the following evening and began work immediately on filing for the writ of habeas corpus . When the documents were completed, they were dispatched to the Pentagon and on to Guantanamo for the signatures of all four prisoners, plus those of the Joint Detention Group commander, who was required to sign off on the releases of the detainees.
The case was filed and allocated a slot on the appeals court calendar for Monday morning, February 19, coming before Chief Judge Stanford Osborne, who would be assisted in his deliberations by Judge Art Cameron and Judge Merrick Rosser. These details were expedited with zero delays.
The appeal would be heard in Court 11, on the fourth floor of the E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse, named for the brilliant Truman-appointed chief judge, the man who was selected to decide whether Frances Gary Powers had handled himself correctly after his U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union in 1962.
This monumental courthouse also contained judicial officers and staff, the probation office, the circuit library, and circuit executives offices, all guarded by squads of hard-eyed U.S. marshals. It is a cathedral to the majesty of American law, and on February 19, within its massive gray concrete walls, a ruling would be made upon a truly stunning application for the release of dangerous men. It was an appeal that was in danger of causing Harry Truman to rise up in fury from his grave in Jackson County, Missouri.
Proceedings were conducted in the lowest possible key. The left-wing bias of the United States media ensured the minimum was written about the appeal, and neither did the op-ed pages spend much time discussing the wisdom of granting these astonishing human rights to foreign terrorists whom the military believed were guilty of murder, mayhem, and other dreadful crimes against the United States, who ought not to be alive, never mind freed.
But the law of the land had been decreed. Justice Kennedy had decided that the moral and fair standards of justice practiced for centuries by the United States ought not to be put on hold just because a bunch of Middle Eastern maniacs were running around killing people. America’s rules of just and equitable behavior must be seen to be enacted at all times. Most of the judges believed that, and the president really believed it. Which was why, at 0730 on the morning of February 19, a military night flight from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, touched down lightly at Andrews Air Force Base northeast of Washington, DC.
Disembarking, still in manacles, surrounded by armed army guards, were the four terrorist killers, Ibrahim Sharif, Yousaf Mohammed, Ben al-Turabi, and Abu Hassan Akbar. A military prison van awaited them, and they were taken immediately to 12th Street for a final meeting with their lawyers.
At 0943 they were led to the bank of elevators in the great appeals court building on Constitution Avenue, and from there they were escorted up to the courtroom on the fourth floor.
They would not be permitted to speak during the hearing. The petitioning lawyer, James Myerson, would plead his case for the release of the men, and the military, formally objecting, would be granted just five minutes to make their case. Their view was simply stated, that Ibrahaim, Yousaf, Ben, and Abu should be returned to Guantanamo and locked up immediately, with their cell keys hurled into the sprawling minefield to the north of the compound. Biff Ransom would probably have gone one step further.
Cases such as this were essentially unknown territory. There was, as yet, no tried and tested formula. An appeal was not a trial. There would be no witnesses. And each side was permitted two lawyers maximum. In this instance, only one would speak for each side.
The judges had already read submissions from each side, and accepted the
THEY ARRIVED BACK in Washington the following evening and began work immediately on filing for the writ of habeas corpus . When the documents were completed, they were dispatched to the Pentagon and on to Guantanamo for the signatures of all four prisoners, plus those of the Joint Detention Group commander, who was required to sign off on the releases of the detainees.
The case was filed and allocated a slot on the appeals court calendar for Monday morning, February 19, coming before Chief Judge Stanford Osborne, who would be assisted in his deliberations by Judge Art Cameron and Judge Merrick Rosser. These details were expedited with zero delays.
The appeal would be heard in Court 11, on the fourth floor of the E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse, named for the brilliant Truman-appointed chief judge, the man who was selected to decide whether Frances Gary Powers had handled himself correctly after his U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union in 1962.
This monumental courthouse also contained judicial officers and staff, the probation office, the circuit library, and circuit executives offices, all guarded by squads of hard-eyed U.S. marshals. It is a cathedral to the majesty of American law, and on February 19, within its massive gray concrete walls, a ruling would be made upon a truly stunning application for the release of dangerous men. It was an appeal that was in danger of causing Harry Truman to rise up in fury from his grave in Jackson County, Missouri.
Proceedings were conducted in the lowest possible key. The left-wing bias of the United States media ensured the minimum was written about the appeal, and neither did the op-ed pages spend much time discussing the wisdom of granting these astonishing human rights to foreign terrorists whom the military believed were guilty of murder, mayhem, and other dreadful crimes against the United States, who ought not to be alive, never mind freed.
But the law of the land had been decreed. Justice Kennedy had decided that the moral and fair standards of justice practiced for centuries by the United States ought not to be put on hold just because a bunch of Middle Eastern maniacs were running around killing people. America’s rules of just and equitable behavior must be seen to be enacted at all times. Most of the judges believed that, and the president really believed it. Which was why, at 0730 on the morning of February 19, a military night flight from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, touched down lightly at Andrews Air Force Base northeast of Washington, DC.
Disembarking, still in manacles, surrounded by armed army guards, were the four terrorist killers, Ibrahim Sharif, Yousaf Mohammed, Ben al-Turabi, and Abu Hassan Akbar. A military prison van awaited them, and they were taken immediately to 12th Street for a final meeting with their lawyers.
At 0943 they were led to the bank of elevators in the great appeals court building on Constitution Avenue, and from there they were escorted up to the courtroom on the fourth floor.
They would not be permitted to speak during the hearing. The petitioning lawyer, James Myerson, would plead his case for the release of the men, and the military, formally objecting, would be granted just five minutes to make their case. Their view was simply stated, that Ibrahaim, Yousaf, Ben, and Abu should be returned to Guantanamo and locked up immediately, with their cell keys hurled into the sprawling minefield to the north of the compound. Biff Ransom would probably have gone one step further.
Cases such as this were essentially unknown territory. There was, as yet, no tried and tested formula. An appeal was not a trial. There would be no witnesses. And each side was permitted two lawyers maximum. In this instance, only one would speak for each side.
The judges had already read submissions from each side, and accepted the
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