In his post below, Orin suggests that if Congress were to object to the Court’s Boumediene decision, it could “formally suspend the Writ as it applies to Guantanamo Bay” under the Constitution’s Suspension Clause. I am not so sure.
The Suspension Clause provides that “[t]he Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.” This language seems to impose two separate conditions on the use of the clause: 1) “Rebellion or Invasion” and 2) “public Safety.” Assuming, for the sake of argument, that these requirements are justiciable (an assumption I don’t necessarily accept) what showing would the government have to make? Would Guantanamo itself have to be invaded or subject to a rebellion? Or would a rebellion or invasion somewhere else suffice? Even if not justiciable, the application of these requirements to Guantanamo seems problematic at a conceptual level. And insofar as Boumediene could be used support the application of the Suspension Clause’s requirements to other territories outside of the de jure sovereignty of the United States, it seems to me that the conceptual problems would only increase. Am I missing something?