Sunday, December 16, 2018

RIP John Gibbons.

One of the leaders in the Guantanamo litigation died this past week. Retired Judge John Gibbons argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in the famous Rasul case -- the ruling that allowed the men at Guantanamo to have legal representation and to contest their detention in the courts.
The Rasul case was an important case, even though most of the men that were released were not released through the court process, because having legal representation allowed a window into Guantanamo. That window had been shut tight by GW Bush and the military but after Rasul it was more difficult for the military to engage in some of their worst practices --because we were allowed in and publicly exposed those practices. Although there have been many battles over the ensueing years when our representation was again threatened the Rasul case was pivotal.
Gibbons was a true patriot in the best sense of the word.

Read more about John Gibbons here and here.