http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/13463808.htmSpy court judge often ripped post-Sept. 11 detentions
CRITIC WHO RESIGNED REMAINS ON FEDERAL BENCH AND WILL HAVE SAY ON GUANTÁNAMO CASE
Knight Ridder
The federal judge who quit the nation's secret spy court in protest over the Bush administration's covert domestic wiretaps has been one of the judiciary's most active and feisty critics of the Guantánamo Bay detention facility in Cuba, where the United States has held hundreds of foreigners for years without charge.
Despite his resignation from the spy court, U.S. District Judge James Robertson, 67, remains on the federal bench and is expected to issue another ruling in a Guantánamo case later this week.
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Duke University law Professor Scott Silliman cast Robertson as one of the judiciary's leading critics of the president's war powers; his Hamdan ruling declared the president's commissions both unconstitutional and in defiance of the Geneva Conventions.
``He feels strongly that the rule of law must pertain to some of these cases,'' said Silliman, who does not know the judge but has read his rulings. ``He is aware of the fact that until a court rules on what rights these detainees at Guantánamo Bay have, they are in legal limbo.''