An account of the case against Osama bin Laden's Yemeni driver analyzes the unexpectedly vigorous defense organized by his Naval Academy military lawyer, Charles Swift, and assesses its impact on American presidential power and the rule of law.
An inside account of the case against Osama bin Laden's Yemeni driver analyzes the unexpectedly vigorous defense organized by his Naval Academy military lawyer, Charles Swift, offering insight into how the trial had a significant impact on American presidential power and the rule of law.
In November 2001, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a 31-year-old Yemeni, was captured and turned over to U.S. forces in Afghanistan. After confessing to being Osama bin Laden's driver, Hamdan was transferred to GuantGanamo Bay, and was soon designated by President Bush for trial before a special military tribunal. The Pentagon assigned a military defense lawyer to represent him, a 35-year-old graduate of the Naval Academy, Lieutenant Commander Charles Swift. No one expected Swift to mount much of a defense. The rulesof the tribunals, America's first in over fifty years, were stacked against him--assuming he wasn't expected to throw the game altogether. Instead, with the help of a young constitutional law professor at Georgetown, Neal Katyal, Swift sued the Bush Administration over the legality of the tribunals. In 2006, Katyal argued the case before the Supreme Court and won. This is the inside story of what may be the most important decision on presidential power and the rule of law in the history of the Supreme Court.--From publisher description.
An inspiring legal thriller set against the backdrop of the war on terror, The Challenge tells the inside story of a historic Supreme Court showdown. At its center are a Navy JAG and a young constitutional law professor who, in the aftermath of 9/11, find themselves defending their nation in the unlikeliest of ways: by suing the president of the United States on behalf of an accused terrorist in order to prevent the American government from breaking the law and violating the Constitution.
Jonathan Mahler traces the journey of their client, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, from the Yemeni mosque where he was first recruited for jihad in 1998, through his years working as a driver for Osama bin Laden, to his capture in Afghanistan in November 2001 and his subsequent transfer to Guantanamo Bay. It was there that Hamdan was designated by President Bush to be tried before a special military tribunal and assigned a military lawyer to represent him, a thirty-five-year-old graduate student of the Naval Academy, Lieutenant Commander Charles Swift.
No one expected Swift to mount much of a defense. Not only were the rules of the tribunals, America’s first in more than fifty years, stacked against him, his superiors at the Pentagon were pressuring him to persuade Hamdan to plead guilty. But Swift didn’t believe that the tribunals were either legal or fair, so he enlisted a young Georgetown law professor named Neal Katyal to help him sue the Bush administration over their legality. In the spring of 2006, Katyal, who had almost no trial experience, took the case to the Supreme Court and won. The landmark ruling has been called the Court’s most important decision ever on presidential power and the rule of law.
Written with the cooperation of Swift and Katyal, The Challenge follows the braided stories of Swift’s intense, precarious relationship with Hamdan and the unprecedented legal case itself. Combining rich character portraits and courtroom drama reminiscent of Jonathan Harr’s A Civil Action with sophisticated yet accessible legal analysis, The Challenge is a riveting narrative that illuminates some of the most pressing constitutional questions of the post-9/11 era.
