Research

Kagan Called The Graham Amendment “Fundamentally Lawless” And Compared It To The Kind Of Laws That “Dictatorships Have Passed...” “When dictatorships have passed laws stripping their courts of power to review executive detention or punishment of prisoners, our government has rightly challenged such acts as fundamentally lawless. The same standard should apply to our own government. We urge you to vote to remove the court-stripping provisions of the Graham Amendment from the pending legislation.” (Elena Kagan Letter, “Joint Letter to Sen. Patrick Leahy, Opposing The Graham Amendment To The DoD Authorization Bill Insofar As It Would Have Stripped The Federal Courts Of Jurisdiction To Hear Habeas Petitions Brought By Detainees At Guantanamo,” Senate Judiciary Committee, 11/14/05)

Kagan Condemned Graham Amendment, Which Prevented Non-Citizen Gitmo Detainees From Appealing Convictions In Federal Courts, For “Immunizing The Executive Branch From Review.” “As professors of law who serve as deans of American law schools, we believe that immunizing the executive branch from review of its treatment of persons held at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo strikes at the heart of the idea of the rule of law and establishes a precedent we would not want other nations to emulate…Curiously, the Graham Amendment recognizes the need for judicial review of the determination of enemy combatant status, but then purports to bar judicial review of far more momentous commission rulings regarding determinations of guilt and imposition of punishment.” (Elena Kagan Letter, “Joint Letter to Sen. Patrick Leahy, Opposing The Graham Amendment To The DoD Authorization Bill Insofar As It Would Have Stripped The Federal Courts Of Jurisdiction To Hear Habeas Petitions Brought By Detainees At Guantanamo,” Senate Judiciary Committee, 11/14/05)