VOA常速英语2007年-US Supreme Court Considers Appeal From Foreign

By Jim Malone
Washington
05 December 2007

The U.S. Supreme¹ Court has heard a plea that terrorism suspects being held at the U.S. Naval² base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, should be given the opportunity to challenge their detention³ in American courts. VOA National Correspondent Jim Malone reports from Washington.

Demonstrators outside the court chanted and waved signs calling on the nine high court justices to grant the detainees habeus corpus, the age-old legal principle that allows prisoners to challenge their detention before a neutral judge.

Inside the court, attorney Seth Waxman argued on behalf of a group of 37 detainees, part of the 305 prisoners now being held at Guantanamo.

"All have been confined at Guantanamo for almost six years," he said. "Yet, not one has ever had meaningful notice of the factual grounds of detention, or a fair opportunity to dispute those grounds before a neutral decision-maker."

But Waxman appeared to have little success in convincing some of the high court's more conservative justices that the Guantanamo detainees have a constitutional right to challenge their detentions⁴ in court.

Among the skeptical⁵ was Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

"You are appealing to a common law right that somehow found its way into our Constitution without, as far as I can discern, a single case in which the writ⁶ [right] was ever issued to a non-citizen," he said.

Some of the other justices appeared more sympathetic, including Justice Stephen Breyer.

"Now it has been six years, and habeus is supposed to be speedy, and yet people have serious arguments anyway that they are being held for six years without even having those arguments heard," he said.

The Supreme Court ruled against the Bush administration in two previous cases concerning the legal rights of the Guantanamo detainees.

Congress got involved in the issue in 2006 and passed a law that was designed to keep detainee appeals out of the civilian⁷ court system and refer them instead to military commissions.

But civil and legal rights groups say the alternative procedures set up by Congress and the Bush administration deprive the detainees of basic rights.

"At issue here that the Supreme Court decided⁸ was; 'Do we have a king in this country who is not bound by the rule of law and not bound by the Constitution? Or do we have a president that is subject to the Constitution?," said Vincent Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights.

Conservative legal scholars argue against U.S. constitutional protections for foreign terrorist suspects.

"If the courts are going to be in charge of the conduct of warfare⁹, we are going to be a much less safe country," said Andrew McCarthy, who is with the Foundation for Defense¹⁰ of Democracies.

A decision by the Supreme Court in the Guantanamo case is expected before the end of June.

1 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

2 naval   

adj.海军的，军舰的，船的

参考例句：

• He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
• The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。

3 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

4 detentions   

拘留( detention的名词复数 )； 扣押； 监禁； 放学后留校

参考例句：

• Teachers may assign detention tasks as they wish and some detentions have been actually dangerous. 老师可能随心所欲指派关禁闭的形式，有些禁闭事实上很危险。
• Intimidation, beatings and administrative detentions are often enough to prevent them from trying again. 恐吓，拷打和行政拘留足以阻止请愿者二次进京的脚步。

5 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。

6 writ   

n.命令状，书面命令

参考例句：

• This is a copy of a writ I received this morning.这是今早我收到的书面命令副本。
• You shouldn't treat the newspapers as if they were Holy Writ. 你不应该把报上说的话奉若神明。

7 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

8 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

9 warfare   

n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突

参考例句：

• He addressed the audience on the subject of atomic warfare.他向听众演讲有关原子战争的问题。
• Their struggle consists mainly in peasant guerrilla warfare.他们的斗争主要是农民游击战。

10 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。