U.S. considering moves to close Gitmo.

The Bush administration is considering several proposals granting more legal rights to detained terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. U.S. officials say the legal considerations are a move to close the detention facility at the U.S. naval base and transfer some of the detainees to other facilities in the United States. One proposal being considered is granting the right to determine whether detainees are held legally and afforded adequate counsel to federal rather than military judges.

A case on the docket with the U.S. Supreme Court, Boumediene v. Bush, would award detainees wide ranging habeas rights to challenge their detention. The move by the Bush administration is seen by some critics as an effort to counter any Supreme Court decisions concerning detainee rights. Lawyers within the Bush administration say the move to preempt the Supreme Court may persuade the justices there to shelve the Boumediene case.

There are over 300 suspects held at Gauntanamo Bay. Of those, the Bush administration says nearly half could be repatriated to face prosecution in their home countries. A New York Times report says 80 detainees could face war crimes prosecution in a specially created federal court to handle sensitive national security cases. The military considers more than 100 of the detainees a grave threat to U.S. national security and may move to hold those suspects indefinitely.

An earlier Supreme Court case, Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, forced the Bush administration to develop Congressionally mandate war crimes tribunals at Guantanamo Bay whereby military commissions determine the status of detainees there. The Military Commissions Act of 2006 also severely limits the habeas rights of those in military custody.
NYT