Enemy Combatant Detention Review Act of 2008

This bill would centralize all legal challenges—specifically habeas corpus petitions—filed by non-citizen detainees at Guantanamo Bay into a single court, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. It would also require that these legal reviews be put on hold until any ongoing military commission trials for the individual are fully completed.

For the public, the bill’s primary impact would be to standardize and potentially prolong the legal process for foreign detainees by prioritizing military proceedings over federal court reviews. Additionally, if a court were to order a detainee's release, the bill specifies that the individual must be transferred to their home country or another nation rather than being released within the United States.