Detainee Lawyer Curbs Draw Protests, ABA Reax
A hearing will be held Tuesday on a Justice Department request to impose new restrictions on lawyers for Guantanamo detainees.
The request has drawn protests from bar groups.
A letter by the New York City Bar protested the move and accused the Justice Department of “a disreputable and unwarranted smear campaign,” according to a column by Clyde Haberman in the New York Times (sub. req.).
ABA President Karen J. Mathis has also weighed in.
“The ability of lawyers to confer with their clients and advocate for justice for those clients is a deeply imbedded principle of American democracy,” she said in a statement. “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.”
