Jon Kyl: “We agree on that point. The one thing that critics have said about this bill that is correct is that it is a…”

“We agree on that point. The one thing that critics have said about this bill that is correct is that it is a jurisdiction stripping bill. It strips every court of jurisdiction to hear claims from detainees held in Guantanamo Bay. The courts' rule of construction for these types of statutes is that legislation ousting the courts of jurisdiction is applied to pending cases. It has to. We're not just changing the law governing the action. We are eliminating the forum in which that action can be heard. And there is no exception anywhere in this bill for keeping intact part of that forum to hear the case. The case simply has nowhere to be heard. I have just been handed a memorandum on this subject. The governing cases on this question are the Landraf case, as well as Hallowell v. Commons, 239 U.S. at 506, and Sherman v. Grinnell, 123 U.S. at 679. As the Landraf court noted, these statutes ``speak to the power of the court rather than the rights or obligations of the parties.'' These cases articulate the rule that will govern the detainee habeas actions and other lawsuits that currently are in the courts: legislation removing jurisdiction applies to pending cases and removes those cases from the courts.”