Pentagon gets legal leverage for Gitmo cases

Methods by which the U.S. government collects evidence against detainees at Guantanamo Bay have a “presumption of regularity,” according to the D.C. Circuit Court decision released last week, meaning that the court assumes the government followed legitimate procedures unless the detainee can prove the contrary.

In a victory for executive branch authority, the court ruled by a 2-1 majority that “the horizontal separation of powers justifies a presumption in favor of official Executive branch records in Guantanamo habeas proceedings . . . courts have no special expertise in evaluating the nature and reliability of the Executive branch’s wartime records. For that, it is appropriate to defer to Executive branch expertise.”