Propel Guantánamo Cases to Trial by Authorizing Federal Judges to Enforce Timetables, Says New Pacific Council Report
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- On the 17th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, a group of legal experts from the Pacific Council on International Policy recommends practical, bipartisan proposals for fairly and transparently expediting the halting pace of the Guantánamo Bay (GTMO) proceedings in a new report.
The Pacific Council's GTMO Task Force calls for federal judges to preside over the military trials at Guantánamo, a message it first disseminated in a 2016 report. Now in a new report, the Task Force calls to equip federal judges with expanded powers to enforce deadlines, levy consequences, and propel these cases toward fair and final conclusions. The new report, A Matter of Time, recommends that federal judges should have the authority to:
- Issue binding orders on discovery and sanction parties that do not or will not comply;
- Require the defense to establish the legal necessity of its discovery requests—or face a discovery cutoff and the start of trial;
- Require the prosecution to produce relevant discovery—or risk losing the right to pursue the death penalty at sentencing; and
- Appoint a magistrate judge and an electronic discovery specialist to help manage the data at issue.
"It has been 17 years since the 9/11 attacks, and there is no sign that the suspected masterminds will be tried any time soon," said Robert C. Bonner, a member of the Task Force and the first Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection in the wake of 9/11. "This is an unacceptable affront to the victims' families. Our report lays out a way forward so the United States can put this chapter behind us."
Since 2013, the Pacific Council has held official NGO observer status with the Office of Military Commissions at GTMO. In 2016, the GTMO Task Force released its first report, Up to Speed. In 2017, Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA) introduced and Congress approved three amendments to the FY2018 defense bill based on recommendations from that report.
The recommendations in this report would improve the legal system at GTMO and achieve a clear path forward for families and victims of the 9/11 attacks. For more information, visit www.pacificcouncil.org/gtmo or contact Marissa Moran at 213-221-2022 or [email protected]. Members of the Task Force including Robert C. Bonner are available for media commentary.
ABOUT THE PACIFIC COUNCIL
The Pacific Council on International Policy is an independent, nonprofit, and nonpartisan organization in Los Angeles dedicated to foreign affairs. The Pacific Council is committed to building the vast potential of the West Coast for impact on global issues, discourse, and policy. For more about the Pacific Council visit www.pacificcouncil.org.
For more information contact:
Marissa Moran
Senior Communications Officer
Pacific Council on International Policy
Ph: (o) 213-221-2022
(c) 203-216-0550
E: [email protected]
SOURCE Pacific Council on International Policy
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