>>30682Guantánamo: A "traveling circus"
While a federal courthouse in Manhattan operates every day, Guantánamo keeps a much different schedule. Lebowitz says military-commission litigation was commonly referred to by all parties as a "traveling circus."
"In order to conduct a hearing at Guantánamo Bay, the entire court system has to go to Andrews Air Force Base in Washington, D.C., and load up onto a chartered flight," Lebowitz said. "And I'm talking about judges, prosecutors, defense lawyers, witnesses, court staff, victim family members — we all go on the same flight and we fly to Guantánamo Bay to conduct a hearing."
That means a hearing is not simply a matter of walking into a courthouse and putting a case on the docket.
As personnel rotate in and out of Guantánamo, logistical hurdles mount.
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