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Guantanamo As A 'Legal Black Hole': A Base For Expanding Space, Markets, And Culture, Ernesto Hernandez-Lopez
Guantanamo As A 'Legal Black Hole': A Base For Expanding Space, Markets, And Culture, Ernesto Hernandez-Lopez
Ernesto A. Hernandez
Guantanamo appears as a "legal black hole" especially when examining detainee rights, but in reality empire purposefully creates these jurisdictional anomalies. To further U.S. interests overseas in 1903, base jurisdiction was crafted as anomalous between Cuban sovereignty and American occupation. For the 174 still detained, it's still a black hole. After four Supreme Court decisions, anomaly continues to pervade detention litigation. Functional tests for extraterritorial constitutional rights, habeas proceedings, and the unclear fate of Uighur-detainees all suffer from doctrinal obfuscation. Detainees rights, or lack of, are just one aspect of anomaly. Empire's dynamic forces produced these ambiguities. Guantanamo represents American …
Boumediene V. Bush And Guantanamo, Cuba: Does The 'Empire Strike Back'?, Ernesto Hernandez-Lopez
Boumediene V. Bush And Guantanamo, Cuba: Does The 'Empire Strike Back'?, Ernesto Hernandez-Lopez
Ernesto A. Hernandez
Commenting on the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Boumediene v. Bush (2008) and the U.S. occupation of the Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, this Article argues that anomaly on the base heavily influences "War on Terror" detention jurisprudence. Anomaly is created by agreements between the U.S. and Cuba in 1903 and 1934. They affirm that the U.S. lacks sovereignty over Guantanamo but retains "complete jurisdiction and control" for an indefinite period; while Cuba has "ultimate sovereignty." Gerald Neuman labels this an "anomalous zone" with fundamental legal rules locally suspended. The base was chosen as a detention center because of …