MCLU Applauds Senator Snowe for Habeas Amendment Cloture Vote;
Disappointed in Partisan Vote from Senator Collins

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Portland- The Maine Civil Liberties Union today expressed disappointment that Maine Senator Susan Collins voted against invoking cloture on Senator Arlen Specter’s amendment To restore Habeas Corpus for those detained by the United States (S.AMDT. 2022).  Senators were voting to cut off debate to allow a vote on attaching the amendment to the fiscal 2008 defense measure, H.R. 1585, which authorizes funding for the Department of Defense for the upcoming year.

“Senator Collins should use her position on the Armed Services Committee to ensure fair and just treatment for all people in United States military custody,” said Shenna Bellows, Executive Director of the MCLU.  “Instead, she is voting against measures that could restore fundamental due process rights.”  

The MCLU applauded Senator Olympia Snowe, who joined five other Republicans in voting in favor of cloture. 

“Congress struck a blow to 800 years of legal doctrine when the Military Commissions Act of 2005 stripped away fundamental habeas corpus rights,” said Bellows.  “Today, 56 members of the Senate showed they are ready to fix that awful mistake.  We are pleased that Senator Snowe put essential civil liberties before partisan politics.”

Unfortunately, the vote of 56-43 in favor of cloture did not obtain the 60 votes required to attach an amendment, and restoring habeas corpus will not be included in the defense measure.

The Military Commissions Act of 2006 stripped away habeas corpus for persons deemed enemy combatants by the president.  Now hundreds of people are held in U.S. custody indefinitely at places like Guantanamo Bay without ever being charged with a crime or gaining access to the justice system.  In June, the MCLU and 35 Mainers traveled to Washington, DC to call on Maine’s Congressional delegation to restore habeas corpus. 

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