ABA asks for Inspectors General to investigate seizure of documents after Guantanamo deaths

The ABA is "deeply troubled by the revelations contained in the July 7, 2006, Department of Justice filing in the Guantanamo habeas cases pending in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia that military investigators, in the course of investigating the deaths of three Guantanamo detainees in June, seized from Guantanamo detainees more than a half-ton of documents, including a large number of highly privileged attorney-client communications," wrote ABA President Michael Greco to Sens. Arlen Specter and Patrick Leahy, chair and ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and to all members of the committee, in a letter [PDF] earlier this month.

The letter was sent to the Senate committee in connection with hearings that were held to explore the issues surrounding the authorization of military commissions in light of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. The ABA sent similar letters to the House Armed Services Committee and the Senate Armed Services Committee, both of which announced plans to hold similar hearings.

In addition to reiterating the ABA's longstanding concerns that military commissions be required to "comply with the rules of the Uniform Code of Military Justice and that defendants in military commission trials receive effective assistance of counsel," Greco expressed grave concerns over the likely manner in which the privileged documents were seized.

While the ABA certainly respects the right of the military to investigate the deaths of the Guantanamo detainees, Greco wrote, "the fact that procedures were not in place to prevent such wholesale invasion of the attorney-client privilege is most disturbing."

The ABA is calling for the Senate Judiciary Committee to "request that the Inspectors General for the Department of Defense and the Justice Department investigate this matter promptly and make their findings and conclusions public in a report to the Committee."

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