The right way to close Guantánamo

Ken Gude writes about how President Obama can close Guantanamo without taking executive action.

With President Barack Obama facing a Tuesday deadline to submit to Congress a plan to close the detention facilities at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, many commentators believe he has just two options: override the statutory ban on transferring detainees to the United States or accept that he won’t close the prison during his presidency.

This is a false choice. Overriding the U.S. transfer ban would be a catastrophic decision, but the president doesn’t need to use an executive action in order to close Guantánamo. He has the unilateral authority to shut down the prison without Congress changing the law. Here’s how.

The above excerpt was originally published in Politico. Click here to view the full article.

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