ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the emergence of safeguards to protect foreigners detained in the United States’ detention facility in Guantánamo Bay against arbitrary detention. Specifically, the chapter traces the steps leading to the adoption of the Military Commissions Act of 2009 and of Executive Order 13567 – Periodic Review of Individuals Detained at Guantánamo Bay Naval Station Pursuant to the Authorization for Use of Military Force of 2011. The chapter presents evidence that the Military Commissions Act of 2009 was a direct response to the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Boumediene v. Bush and can therefore be explained by the litigation variant of the coercion mechanism. Executive Order 13568, in contrast, was the result of strategic learning primarily propelled by two interagency task forces established by the Obama administration that bundled recommendations which had been presented by national security and human rights experts in Congressional hearings.
