One Step Forward, Two Steps Backwards: A General Analysis of the US Supreme Court's Decisions in the Enemy Combatantss Cases

Abstract

As we seem to be witnessing the last chapters of the closure of the Guantanamo detention camps, we are compelled to evaluate the successes and the failures of the US Supreme Court’s decisions on the cases emerging from Guantanamo bay. Such an assessment is vital in that it enables us to establish an emerging pattern in the modalities of the interaction between the judiciary and the executive in the Twenty First century. My paper will seek to scrutinise two main dimensions of the Guantanamo cases, namely, procedural and substantive restraints put on the detention powers of the US executive by the US Supreme Court. On the account of a detailed analysis of the aforementioned dimensions, and with a view to the implications of these decisions for the future judgements of a similar nature, I will conclude that whilst the US Supreme Court showed a great degree of fortitude in upholding some procedural safeguards for the Guantanamo detainees, its overall conduct fell a long way short of putting substantive restraints on the authority of the US executive.