GTMO Habeas Numbers Update
We haven't circulated an update on the Guantanamo habeas numbers in a while, and this new set includes updates in several categories, as well as a minor methodological change.
Previously we had separate categories for "district-court wins in which the D.C. Circuit dismissed the appeal," one category for detainee wins and one for government wins. It now seems more accurate to group cases like this with those that are not appealed at all; this is to reflect the sense that, if the case was dismissed prior to a merits decision by the D.C.
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We haven't circulated an update on the Guantanamo habeas numbers in a while, and this new set includes updates in several categories, as well as a minor methodological change.
Previously we had separate categories for "district-court wins in which the D.C. Circuit dismissed the appeal," one category for detainee wins and one for government wins. It now seems more accurate to group cases like this with those that are not appealed at all; this is to reflect the sense that, if the case was dismissed prior to a merits decision by the D.C. Circuit, the lower court's merits ruling remains operative--just as it does when the losing party doesn't appeal at all. The Supreme Court's denial of cert. in Al Adahi also led to a change in the cert. denials/grants category.
- Uighur cases in which detention was deemed or conceded unlawful: 17
- Petitioners’ district-court wins not appealed by the government, including cases in which the government’s initial appeal was later dismissed: 14
- Petitioners’ district-court wins pending at D.C. Circuit: 5
- Petitioners’ district-court wins resulting in a remand to district court, with remand still pending: 2
- Petitioners’ merits wins at D.C. Circuit: 0
- Government’s district-court wins not appealed by the petitioner, including cases in which the petitioner’s initial appeal was later dismissed: 2
- Government’s district-court wins that will likely be appealed: 3
- Government’s district-court wins pending at D.C. Circuit: 10
- Government’s district-court wins resulting in a remand to district court, with remand still pending: 1
- Government’s merits wins at D.C. Circuit: 6
- Post-Boumediene merits decisions in which cert. has been denied: 1
Larkin Reynolds is an associate at a D.C. law firm and was a legal fellow at Brookings from 2010 to 2011. Larkin holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School, where she served as a founding editor of the Harvard National Security Journal and interned with the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps, and the National Security Division of the Department of Justice. She also has a B.A. in international relations from New York University.
