CCR Heads to Court in Guantánamo Mass Legal Challenge, Arguing Court Should End the Perpetual Detention of "Forever Prisoners"

On Wednesday, CCR will challenge Donald Trump’s ongoing detention of men at Guantánamo in federal court. On the 16^th anniversary of the prison's opening, CCR, Reprieve, and co-counsel submitted a collective filing on behalf of 11 prisoners, arguing that Trump's proclamation that he will not release anyone from Guantánamo regardless of their circumstances is arbitrary, unlawful, and motivated by executive hubris and anti-Muslim animus. The 11 include our client, Sharqawi Al Hajj, a 43-year-old Yemeni who has been detained without charge for over 16 years, who is sick and on hunger strike, and for whom the prospect of years more in Guantánamo may mean a death sentence. The government maintains that the continuing detention of our clients without charge or trial, and without a prospect of release, is normal. But it is not normal, as a matter of fact and law. We argue that the petitioners' perpetual detentions violate the Due Process clause of the Constitution and the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF). These "forever prisoners" may never leave Guantánamo alive, unless the court intervenes.

If you're in D.C., join us in court for the oral argument on July 11, and the evening before for a discussion on Trump's Guantánamo with Amnesty International USA, Justice for Muslims Collective, and Witness Against Torture. We'll talk about the issues and obstacles affecting our work calling for accountability for the U.S. torture program, connecting Guantánamo to Trump's broader anti-Muslim agenda, and the fight to close the prison once and for all.

Join CCR at Netroots Nation in New Orleans, August 2-4

Next month, a CCR crew will be heading to New Orleans for Netroots Nation, an annual gathering of thousands of progressive organizers, activists and media makers who come together to learn, collaborate, and strategize. We'll be presenting two sessions. Join us!

Fight Pipelines, Fight Racism: Louisiana's #NoBayouBridge Fight Is About More Than a Pipeline: The #NoBayouBridge short-film series and panel discussion will detail how a fight to stop a 162-mile oil pipeline is about more than resisting the oil industry in Louisiana. #NoBayouBridge continues the struggle against economic and political elites in Louisiana—whose decisions perpetuate racial and environmental injustice, and land and cultural dispossession—that links back to white settler colonization and slavery. CCR Senior Attorney Pamela Spees will be joined by Cherri Foytlin, Anne Rolfes, and Pastor Harry Joseph.

The Race Paper and Other Secret Documents: How the FBI And DHS Are Surveilling and Criminalizing Black Protest: In 2017, under court order, the Department of Homeland Security and FBI turned over hundreds of pages of emails, reports, policies and other documents to the Center for Constitutional Rights and Color Of Change. These documents reveal government surveillance of the Movement for Black Lives, and Black activists and organizers, and reveal for the first time the existence of a report produced by the DHS Intelligence and Analysis Office called the "Race Paper," which is entirely blacked out in reliance on the National Security Act. Join CCR's Omar Farah leading the discussion.