Sabin Willett
Encyclopedia
Peter Sabin Willett, known as Sabin Willett, (born March 6, 1957) is an American
lawyer
and novelist, a partner with the Boston
law firm Bingham McCutchen
, previously called Bingham Dana. He lives near Boston
, Massachusetts
. He is perhaps best known as a defense lawyer for several Uighur
prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp
.
at Gresham's School
, Holt
, and at Harvard College
and Harvard Law School
.
He also represents a number of Uyghur captives in Guantanamo held by the United States
at Guantanamo Bay detention camp as part of the War on Terror
. Five of the Uighurs, including two of Willett's clients, were determined not to be enemy combatants and released to Albania
in 2006.
The United States Congress
's passage of the Military Commissions Act of 2006
was intended to strip the Guantanamo captives of the right to access the US justice system, including writs of habeas corpus
.
The Act was intended to close the approximately 200 outstanding writs of habeas corpus.
Willett turned to a provision of the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, which set out rules through which captives could challenge the rulings of their Combatant Status Review Tribunals, to set in motion challenges which could result in the remaining Uyghurs also being rules as "no longer enemy combatants".
On June 12 of 2008 the United States Supreme Court ruled that the executive branch could not keep the Guantanamo captives from accessing the US Judicial system. In an unrelated development, on June 20, 2008, an appeals court in Washington considering Parhat v. Gates
under the Detainee Treatment Act, over-ruled Uyghur captive Hassan Parhat's Combatant Status Review Tribunal
's determination that he was an "enemy combatant", based a lack of evidence. Willett was one of Parhat's lawyers.
The Department of Justice decided not to appeal the Parhat v. Gates ruling.
In September 2008 the Bush administration abandoned the claim that any of the Uyghurs were "enemy combatants".
In June 2009 Willett and Susan Baker Manning accompanied four Uyghurs, including Hassan Parhat, to freedom in Bermuda
. The Micronesian
state of Palau
announced it would accept the other thirteen Uyghurs, but there have been complications, and they remain at Guantanamo.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
and novelist, a partner with the Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
law firm Bingham McCutchen
Bingham McCutchen
Bingham McCutchen LLP is a global law firm with approximately 1,100 attorneys in nine US offices and four international offices. It represents clients in corporate litigation, cross-border restructurings and insolvencies, financing and securities, structured finance and capital markets, government...
, previously called Bingham Dana. He lives near Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
. He is perhaps best known as a defense lawyer for several Uighur
Uyghur people
The Uyghur are a Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia. Today, Uyghurs live primarily in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China...
prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp
Guantanamo Bay detainment camp
The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a detainment and interrogation facility of the United States located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. The facility was established in 2002 by the Bush Administration to hold detainees from the war in Afghanistan and later Iraq...
.
Education
Willett was educated in EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
at Gresham's School
Gresham's School
Gresham’s School is an independent coeducational boarding school in Holt in North Norfolk, England, a member of the HMC.The school was founded in 1555 by Sir John Gresham as a free grammar school for forty boys, following King Henry VIII's dissolution of the Augustinian priory at Beeston Regis...
, Holt
Holt, Norfolk
Holt is a market town and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The town is north of the city of Norwich, west of Cromer and east of King's Lynn. The town is on the route of the A148 King's Lynn to Cromer road. The nearest railway station is in the town of Sheringham where access to the...
, and at Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
and Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
.
- Gresham's SchoolGresham's SchoolGresham’s School is an independent coeducational boarding school in Holt in North Norfolk, England, a member of the HMC.The school was founded in 1555 by Sir John Gresham as a free grammar school for forty boys, following King Henry VIII's dissolution of the Augustinian priory at Beeston Regis...
: graduated with three A-levels, 1975 - Harvard CollegeHarvard CollegeHarvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
: Bachelor of ArtsBachelor of ArtsA Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
magna cum laude, 1979 - Harvard Law SchoolHarvard Law SchoolHarvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
: Juris DoctorJuris DoctorJuris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
cum laude, 1983
Novels by Sabin Willett
- The Deal (Random House, 1996) ISBN 0-679-44852-7
- The Betrayal (Villard, 1998) ISBN 0-425-17334-8
- Present Value (Random House, 2003) ISBN 0-8129-6955-3
Articles by Sabin Willett
mirrorLegal Publications by Sabin Willett
- Adel's Anniversary: A Guantanamo Tale, JURIST (University of PittsburghUniversity of PittsburghThe University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...
School of Law Journal), March 2006 - The Doctrine of Robin Hood: a Note on Substantive Consolidation (4 DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal 87, Fall, 2005)
- The Shallows of Deepening Insolvency (60 The Business Lawyer 533, February, 2005)
- Bankruptcy Trial Tactics (ABA Judicial Division Bench/Bar Bankruptcy Conference, March, 2005)
- The Doctrine of Necessity: a Polemic (13 Journal of Bankruptcy Law and Practice no. 4 at 61, 2004)
Lawyer
As a lawyer, Willett concentrates his practice in commercial and bankruptcy litigation.He also represents a number of Uyghur captives in Guantanamo held by the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
at Guantanamo Bay detention camp as part of the War on Terror
War on Terror
The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
. Five of the Uighurs, including two of Willett's clients, were determined not to be enemy combatants and released to Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
in 2006.
The United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
's passage of the Military Commissions Act of 2006
Military Commissions Act of 2006
The United States Military Commissions Act of 2006, also known as HR-6166, was an Act of Congress signed by President George W. Bush on October 17, 2006. Drafted in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision on Hamdan v...
was intended to strip the Guantanamo captives of the right to access the US justice system, including writs of habeas corpus
Habeas corpus
is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations...
.
The Act was intended to close the approximately 200 outstanding writs of habeas corpus.
Willett turned to a provision of the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, which set out rules through which captives could challenge the rulings of their Combatant Status Review Tribunals, to set in motion challenges which could result in the remaining Uyghurs also being rules as "no longer enemy combatants".
On June 12 of 2008 the United States Supreme Court ruled that the executive branch could not keep the Guantanamo captives from accessing the US Judicial system. In an unrelated development, on June 20, 2008, an appeals court in Washington considering Parhat v. Gates
Parhat v. Gates
Parhat v. Gates No. 06-1397 is a petition for review under the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 filed on behalf of Hozaifa Parhat, and six other Uyghur detainees held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.Susan Baker Manning, one of Parhat's...
under the Detainee Treatment Act, over-ruled Uyghur captive Hassan Parhat's Combatant Status Review Tribunal
Combatant Status Review Tribunal
The Combatant Status Review Tribunals were a set of tribunals for confirming whether detainees held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp had been correctly designated as "enemy combatants". The CSRTs were established July 7, 2004 by order of U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense...
's determination that he was an "enemy combatant", based a lack of evidence. Willett was one of Parhat's lawyers.
The Department of Justice decided not to appeal the Parhat v. Gates ruling.
In September 2008 the Bush administration abandoned the claim that any of the Uyghurs were "enemy combatants".
In June 2009 Willett and Susan Baker Manning accompanied four Uyghurs, including Hassan Parhat, to freedom in Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
. The Micronesian
Micronesian
Micronesian may refer to:* Something of, from, or related to Micronesia, a subregion of Oceania composed of hundreds of small islands in the Pacific Ocean...
state of Palau
Palau
Palau , officially the Republic of Palau , is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Philippines and south of Tokyo. In 1978, after three decades as being part of the United Nations trusteeship, Palau chose independence instead of becoming part of the Federated States of Micronesia, a...
announced it would accept the other thirteen Uyghurs, but there have been complications, and they remain at Guantanamo.
Memberships
- Boston Bar Association
- Massachusetts Bar Association
- New Hampshire Bar Association
- American Bar Association
Quotations
- "I do think there are a lot of people in my generation who are spending too damn much time in their children’s lives." - Sabin Willett
- "I’m a Luddite. The problem with instant communication is that it is instant, and constant. People don't have time to think. And they're always distracted. Nobody under twenty ever fully concentrates on anything." - Sabin Willett
- "In a wiser past, we tried Nazi war criminals in the sunlight. Summing up for the prosecution at Nuremberg, Robert Jackson said that 'the future will never have to ask, with misgiving: "What could the Nazis have said in their favor?" History will know that whatever could be said, they were allowed to say. . . . The extraordinary fairness of these hearings is an attribute of our strength.' The world has never doubted the judgment at Nuremberg. But no one will trust the work of these secret tribunals." - Sabin Willett