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Title: The Challenge: Hamdan v. Rumsfeld and the Fight over Presidential Power
ISBN: 0374223203
Author:
Jonathan Mahler
Publicate Date: 2008-08-05
Publish: 2008-08-05
List Price: $26.00
Average Customer Rating: 5.0
Format: Hardcover
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $12.00
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $10.50
Amazon Merchant Price: $17.16
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Hamdan - defending laws, like writing them, is like making sausage
First, the grueling nature preparing for what became arguably the most important constitutional law ruling by the Supreme Court in 30 years is incredible.
Take a constitutional law prof at Georgetown with a terminally ill father, a card-carrying-member of the ACLU Navy lawyer with ADD, and top legal eagles from white-shoe law firms pitching in pro bono work and getting frustrated at not being heard out enough in briefs, and you get some idea of the potential for conflict - potential that became actuality at times.
But yet, everybody held together, above all Prof. Neal Katyal and Lt. Com. Charles Swift.
However, the grind took its toll on Swift, with an eventual divorce and his Naval promotion path blocked.
And, continued confinement in Guantanamo continues to take its toll on Salim Hamdan.
In a brief wrap-up in that vein, Mahler talks about the post-Hamdan legal world, especicially the Military Commissions Act and the Boumediene case.
If you want a legal thriller that's real-life, not fiction, and about life and death constitutional issues, this is a must read.
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2: Hamdan vs. Rumsfeld
Here is an astonishing story in which two unlikely and oddly paired attorneys (read heroes) take on the United States government on behalf of a Yemeni citizen detained at Guantanamo. Neither Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift, the navy lawyer assigned to the case, nor Neal Katyal, the Georgetown law professor who volunteered to help, could have imagined where the case would take them nor what it would require of their careers, family, and personal well being. But the story of what they did, how they did it, what it took, who helped, and how it all came out is as amazing as it is important, resulting in one of the most significant legal decisions of the post 9/11 era, the Supreme Court's ruling on Hamdan Against Rumsfeld. Jonathan Mahler relates the tangled and extraordinarily complex sequence of events and legal maneuvers with such mastery of the material, you have to believe he had a degree in law was on hand for every conversation, discussion, and encounter. The Challenge is a gratifying David and Goliath story, but its real worth lies in the issues of justice and constitutionality which this case brings to the fore and which determine whether anyone will receive the justice presumably guaranteed by our constitution and international law.
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3: American Justice
Mr. Mahler has researched a griping courtroom drama in the tradition of "A Few Good Men" where the murder charges have been replaced by a constitutional crisis. Does terrorists have any rights under the Constitution or can they be have forever without a trial? The book could have used some tighter editing, but otherwise is quite readable and clear as to the legal issues and maneuverings. Following the case as it slowly makes it way to the Supreme Court, the author illustrates the lives of the lawyers involved and the costs that they paid to win a victory before the Roberts court to have a trial. As A coda, the newspapers reported this week that the defendent was acquitted of the serious charges and will be released in six months.
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