Republican Senators: Guantanamo Bay Prisoners Not Entitled To Religious Freedom

[kpete]

The legal arguments for allowing the restrictions on female guards are controversial. Two separate courts have found that Gitmo detainees are not considered “persons” under the Religious Freedom and Restoration Act — but, their attorneys argue, the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision last year changed that. Under that decision, the Supreme Court held that for-profit corporations can be exempt from a law its owners religiously object to. Ayotte herself has vigorously defended the Hobby Lobby decision, saying it was essential to protect the company’s religious freedom.

But if Christian corporations can use religious freedom to exempt themselves from laws, Guantanamo detainees attorneys argue, then why can’t Muslim prisoners?

“I have been trying to figure out why corporations are worthy of court protection and Muslims held in indefinite detention … are not.”

wrote attorney Eric L. Lewis, who has represented some Guantanamo detainees, in a 2014 New York Times op-ed. The answer, Lewis accused, lies in a legal system with biases in favor of Christians and against Muslims.

But senators who objected to the female guard court order on Tuesday said that these arguments were disingenuous. “These terrorists — truly the worst of the worst — are manipulating our legal system to the detriment of our dedicated women guards,” said Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC).


MORE:
http://thinkprogress.org/world/2015/10/30/3717087/republican-senators-female-guards-guantamano-bay/