The landmark judgment delivered on 12 June 2008 by the United States (US) Supreme Court in Boumediene v. Bush and al Odah v. United States (“Boumediene”) constitutes a significant step towards the restoration of the rule of law as a foundation for counter-terrorism measures by the United States of America (USA). In its ruling, the court unreservedly affirmed that the right to challenge the lawfulness of one’s detention in a court of law must be given effect to the foreign nationals detained as “enemy combatants” in Guantánamo Bay, who currently number approximately 270 detainees of around 30 nationalities.
