Posted on 04/27/2007 4:13:27 PM PDT by SmithL
WASHINGTON, (AP) -- The American Bar Association expressed concern Friday over Bush administration plans to limit lawyers' access to detainees at Guantanamo Bay.
The ABA was responding to a recent Justice Department court filing alleging that lawyers' visits to Guantanamo Bay and attorneys' mail to the detainees threatened to undermine security at the U.S. facility in Cuba.
Many of the detainees have been imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay for five years. The department proposes to limit each detainee-lawyer visits to four. Currently, there are no limits on the number of visits.
After an initial face-to-face meeting of up to eight hours, "three additional counsel visits should be fully sufficient," the department's filing states.
It will be up to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to decide how much lawyer access there should be.
ABA President Karen J. Mathis said lawyer-client contact is "a deeply embedded principle of American democracy."
"Arbitrary restrictions concerning the number of times and the ways that lawyers may confer with their clients in Guantanamo, or in any court, would threaten competent representation without at all advancing national security,"
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Leaky Leahy is deeply disturbed.
And we all know how much muslims appreciate American democracy.
Um....Earth to Karen.....those at Gitmo are NOT American’s......but, then, you are the perfect picture of the anti-American!
I think they should throw these evil lawyers into the cells with their beloved clients... without benefit of protection or guards. Leave them for a few hours and mop up the remains!!!
LLS
Can anyone tell me who is paying these lawyers?
If the lawyers ran an hourly bill for the terrorists, they wouldn’t want even four visits.
If only we could! I can think of some reporters who could be thrown in there with them to report on the event.
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