Harry Reid: “In a statement on November 15 of this year, I explained my vote on amendments offered by Senators Graham, Levin, and…”

“In a statement on November 15 of this year, I explained my vote on amendments offered by Senators Graham, Levin, and Bingaman regarding access to the Federal courts for detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Now that a conference report containing a revised version of these provisions is before us, I want to reiterate a few points. I voted in favor of the Graham-Levin amendment because I believed it was better than the original Graham amendment. Similarly, I will vote in favor of this conference report because I favor the bill as a whole. But I have mixed views on the detainee provisions of the conference report, now in title X as the ``Detainee Treatment Act of 2005.'' On the one hand, I oppose stripping the courts of jurisdiction to hear habeas corpus petitions. The writ of habeas corpus is one of the pillars of the Anglo-American legal system, and limiting the Great Writ interferes with the independence of the judiciary and violates principles of separation of powers. The action we take today fails to address adequately the Bush administration's flawed policy of detaining suspects indefinitely, in secret, and without access to meaningful judicial oversight. On the other hand, I support provisions in this bill that require improvements in the procedures and oversight of the Combatant Status Review Tribunals.…”