Arlen Specter: “I will begin with the subject matter brought up by the Senator from Connecticut about the status of aliens. I would note…”

“I will begin with the subject matter brought up by the Senator from Connecticut about the status of aliens. I would note that in the Rasul case, the Supreme Court, Justice Stevens speaking for a majority, answered this categorically: Aliens held at the base, like American citizens, are entitled to invoke the Federal courts' section 2241 authority-- Which is the habeas corpus statute. So the court has dealt with that conclusively in Rasul much the same way that Justice O'Connor did speaking for plurality in an earlier case. Addressing the question to the Senator from South Carolina, earlier today I noted the order establishing Combat Status Review Tribunals, and it provided that: All detainees shall be notified-- Leaving out some irrelevant material-- of the right to seek a writ of habeas corpus in the courts of the United States.”