On December 22, ...

... 2007 (today), at 1:08 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, begins the Northern Hemisphere's Winter Solstice. At dawn, light seeps into a specially made, 5,000-year-old chamber at Newgrange, Ireland. For 14 minutes the shaft of light illuminates stone carvings like that at left. Then it disappears for another year.
... 1812 (195 years ago today), at age 25, the Native American woman who guided Lewis & Clark through the American West, Sacagawea, died after giving birth to her 2d child at at Fort Manuel, fur-trading post in what is now South Dakota. With her was Toussaint Charbonneau, the French-Canadian soldier to whom she was sold as a slave, at about age 12, and claimed as wife. Selling her was a band of Indians who had kidnapped her from her people, the Shoshones. She is inspiration to IntLawGrrls' Kristine A. Huskey.

Gitmo, round 3

Today the U.S. Supreme Court embarked on its 3d voyage in 3 years to Guantánamo Bay.
Justices convened at 10 to hear an hour of oral argument in Boumediene v. Bush, the title for consolidated cases brought by many of the noncitizens whom executive officials seized abroad in the years since 9/11 and then transported to the naval base that the United States has operated for more than a century at the southeastern corner of the island of Cuba.
Arguing on behalf of detainees were Seth P. Waxman, who served as Solicitor General, the United States' chief appellate attorney, from 1997-2001 and is now a D.C.-based private practitioner. Arguing on behalf of the government was Paul D. Clement, the current Solicitor General.
As detailed in briefs about which IntLawGrrl and amicus author Beth Van Schaack* has posted, discussion promised to cover both jurisdictional and merits issues. Preargument, these seemed like likely key concerns:
1st, may U.S. courts consider legal challenges brought by these detainees? In Rasul v. Bush (2004), 1 of 3 judgments in the 1st round of Gitmo litigation, the Court ruled that nothing in the federal habeas statute precluded so extending the "privilege of litigation." Congress responded by rewriting the statute, not just once but, after the Court rebuffed the 1st attempt in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (2006) -- Gitmo, round 2 -- twice. With regard to that 2d effort, contained in the Military Commissions Act, the Court will determine whether Congress indeed intended to curtail federal litigation and, if so, whether the Constitution permits such curtailment.
2d, assuming that the litigation may go forward, do the special military panels set up in the wake of the 2004 judgments satisfy legal requirements for reviewing the lawfulness of detention? Evidence supporting petitioners' contention that the panels are procedurally deficient and unduly skewed toward the government's side have come from a number of sources, among them the Denbeaux studies of CSRT transcripts and, at the appendix to this filing, an affidavit from officer who served on those panels.
UPDATE: The Court's now released to the internet both an audio tape and written transcript of this morning's argument. For a roundup on commentary so far, see SCOTUSblog.

* Other IntLawGrrls with a hand in today's arguments: Amicus author Jenny S. Martinez, and Kristine A. Huskey, whose representation of certain detainees is described here. Have I forgotten anyone?

Introducing Sacagawea

Thank you to Diane for the invitation to join this supra-international female intelligenze and to all of you 'Grrls who have helped me along the way. Allow me now to introduce myself and show you why I chose Sacagawea (right) as my IntLawGrrls transnational foremother.
Sacagawea is best known for her contribution to the Lewis and Clark expedition, which was sponsored by President Thomas Jefferson, funded by Congress, and charged with exploring the newly acquired Louisiana Territory and finding navigational waterways across the continent to the Pacific Ocean. Much about Sacagawea’s life is a mystery, but it is thought that she was born around 1788. Daughter of a Shoshone chief, Sacagawea joined the ‘Corps of Discovery’ circa 1804 along with her husband, who was hired as an interpreter for the expedition. Sacagawea was the only female member of the expedition. Further, at the start of the journey she was not even 16 years old, and she was pregnant. After giving birth, she carried her infant son on her back during the grueling two-year trek.
Sacagawea was an interpreter, diplomat, and occasional navigator. Her knowledge of native plants and herbs provided necessary food and medicine for the expedition members. Sacagawea’s courage and quick action was noted in Clark’s journals, when the boat Sacagawea was riding in was hit by a high wind and nearly capsized. She recovered many important papers and supplies that would otherwise have been lost, and her calmness under duress earned the compliments of the captains.
Sacagawea turned out to be incredibly valuable to the Corps as it traveled westward, through the territories of many new tribes. Some of these Native Americans, prepared to defend their lands, had never seen white men before. As Clark noted on October 19, 1805, the 'Indians' were inclined to believe that the whites were friendly when they saw Sacagawea. A war party never traveled with a woman -- especially a woman with a baby. Sacagawea prevented many battles between the expedition group and the natives that were encountered along the way. As a woman, she was a symbol of peace. During council meetings between Native-American chiefs and the Corps where Shoshone was spoken, Sacagawea was used and valued as an interpreter.
Lewis noted in his journal that Sacagawea had “equal fortitude and resolution” to that of the men on the expedition. And, her vote counted equally among the men when they had to decide where to build a fort to settle for the winter when they reached the Columbia River. Whether she died young or lived to an old age remains a mystery, but by all historical accounts, the assistance Sacagawea provided to the famous expedition was critical to its success.