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Habeas Petition by Guantanamo Bay Detainee Rejected

By FindLaw Staff on June 08, 2010 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

Also, Decisions in Attorney's Fees and Case Against Government Over Chemical Plant's Destruction

Awad v. Obama, No. 09-5351, concerned a petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed by a detainee at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  The D.C. Circuit affirmed the denial of the petition, holding that 1) there was no reversible error in the district court's finding that petitioner was "part of" al Qaeda in December of 2001; and 2) prior decisions of the court of appeals clearly held that a preponderance of the evidence standard was constitutional and that there was no requirement that the government must show that a detainee would be a threat if released in order to detain him.

El-Shifa Pharm. Indus. Co. v. US, No. 07-5174, involved an action by the owners of a Sudanese pharmaceutical plant against the U.S. for unjustifiably destroying the plant, failing to compensate plaintiffs for its destruction, and defaming them by asserting they had ties to Osama bin Laden.  The court of appeals affirmed the dismissal of the action, on the ground that the political question doctrine barred plaintiffs' claims.

Turner v. NTSB, No. 09-1225, concerned two pilots' petition for review of the National Transportation Safety Board's order reversing an attorney's fee award to petitioners against the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in a pilot's license revocation proceeding.  The D.C. Circuit denied the petition, on the grounds that 1) because the Administrative Law Judge dismissed the cases without prejudice, there was nothing in this case analogous to judicial relief; 2) the pilots are not prevailing parties for purposes of 5 U.S.C. section 504(a)(1), and thus, they are not entitled to recover their attorneys fees and expenses under that section; and 3) petitioners could not recover under section 504(a)(4) because the FAA did not prevail.

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