Campaign tidbit: Habeas lawyers endorse Obama

The Administrative Review Board room is seen with eye bolts for securing detainees at Camp Delta at the U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba January 18, 2006. REUTERS/JOE SKIPPER

This is an endorsement that makes me sit up and take notice.

... All of us are lawyers who have worked on the Guantanamo habeas corpus litigation for many years, some of us since early 2002, and we were all deeply involved in opposing the Administration’s attempt to overturn the Supreme Court's Rasul decision by stripping the courts of jurisdiction to hear the Guantanamo cases. ...

Some politicians are all talk and no action. But we know from first-hand experience that Senator Obama has demonstrated extraordinary leadership on this critical and controversial issue. When others stood back, Senator Obama helped lead the fight in the Senate against the Administration's efforts in the Fall of 2006 to strip the courts of jurisdiction, and when we were walking the halls of the Capitol trying to win over enough Senators to beat back the Administration's bill, Senator Obama made his key staffers and even his offices available to help us. Senator Obama worked with us to count the votes, and he personally lobbied colleagues who worried about the political ramifications of voting to preserve habeas corpus for the men held at Guantanamo. ...

...We need a President who will restore the rule of law, demonstrate our commitment to human rights, and repair our reputation in the world community. Based on our work with him, we are convinced that Senator Obama can do this because he truly feels these issues "in his bones."

Full text.

It is hard for me to trust Clinton to have more than a cosmetic interest in restoring the rule of law -- you know, it gives the USA such a bad image when we torture and render... These people want me to believe that Obama has more of an interest. They are in a position to have a meaningful opinion.

H/t dday.