The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) recognizes that the September 19, 2007 Senate vote on the habeas-restoring amendment introduced by Senators Specter, Leahy, and Dodd to the Defense Authorization Bill demonstrates that a majority of Senators support the restoration of habeas corpus that was stripped away by the last Congress in the Military Commissions Act (MCA). While this was not enough votes to overcome a Republican filibuster, it is an improvement from prior votes on the issue.

The Center for Constitutional Rights released the following statement:

The Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents many of the detainees at Guantánamo Bay and coordinates the work of more than 500 pro bono attorneys working on the detainee cases, applauds the principled decision of 56 senators today to support the restoration of the right of habeas corpus to detainees held in U.S. custody.

We saw today that a majority of our senators realize that stripping away a basic right such as habeas corpus from anybody means that everyone's rights are at stake.

This is but one small step that Congress must take to restore the Constitution after the passage of last year's damaging Military Commissions Act, and to ensure that justice is served for the detainees at Guantánamo Bay. While this was not enough support to overcome a Republican filibuster, it is an important sign that there is increasing support for restoring the rule of law. We must preserve an individual's right to challenge an executive detention. In a democracy, no President should have the right to label someone, lock them up and throw away the key.