*****FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***** April 19, 2004 Contact: Heidi Boghosian, NLG Executive Director, 212-679-5100 x11 DEMONSTRATIONS PLANNED OUTSIDE SUPREME COURT TO PROTEST GUANTANAMO’S “LAW-FREE ZONE” ISSUE OF UNLIMITED PRESIDENTIAL WAR TIME POWERS AT STAKE The National Lawyers Guild joins a broad coalition of groups planning to protest outside the United States Supreme Court during the consolidated oral arguments in the cases of Rasul v. Bush and Al Odah v. United States on April 20, 2004. At issue is the specific question of whether U.S. Courts have jurisdiction over the U.S. Military Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and, ultimately, the executive branch’s claim to un-checked wartime powers. While the Justices will not rule on the constitutionality of the hundreds of detainees that are being held at Guantanamo Bay, the National Lawyers Guild believes the U.S. is unlawfully occupying the base because the treaty between the U.S. and Cuba limits its use to a “coaling or naval station,” and not a prison or a concentration camp. The Lawyers Guild therefore calls for the immediate closure of the concentration camp at Guantanamo Bay and the release of the prisoners. If probable cause exists for charging these prisoners with criminal offenses, they should be charged and immediately be provided with access to legal counsel, human rights organizations and their families. “Guantanamo presents a striking example of how the Bush Administration has overreached its constitutional powers since 9/11,” stated Heidi Boghosian, NLG Executive Director. “The detainees’ status is properly an issue for the federal courts to decide and we’re confident the Court will rebuke the Administration’s power grab.” Hundreds will gather to voice their opposition to the creation of the legal “black hole” that Guantanamo represents. Bruce Bentley, NLG-NY Mass Defense Committee Chair who is helping to organize the event, highlights the importance of this opposition by stating, “As part of their global War on Terror, the U.S. government and military have begun to seize people all over the world, including U.S. citizens, designating them as 'enemy combatants' solely on the word of President Bush. This new extra-legal use of the military represents a qualitative leap toward a new and ominous global police state.” The event begins at 9:30am and speakers will begin at 11:00 am. For more information visit www.nlg.org/eccases. The National Lawyers Guild, founded in 1937 as a racially integrated alternative to the then segregated American Bar Association, comprises over 6,000 members and activists using the law in the service of the people. -30-