What is Guantanamo?
One of the main arguments the justices will have to decide is who controls Guantanamo Bay. The United States established the base at Guantanamo after the Spanish-American War, getting the new government of Cuba to agree to the base after driving Spanish forces off the island in the early 1900s. Under the lease the two governments signed, the Bush administration argued, Cuba holds ultimate control over the property. Lawyers for the detainees say the naval base, which houses a detention camp for prisoners captured in foreign wars, is U.S. territory and therefore prisoners should be protected by U.S. laws. “Cuban law doesn’t apply there. Cuban law has never had any application inside that base. A stamp with Fidel Castro’s picture on it wouldn’t get a letter off the base,” said John Gibbons, the attorney representing the detainees. Some members of the court seemed to agree with Gibbons’ argument, including Justice Stephen Breyer, who raised the notion of checks and balances, the U.S. form
