They urged the prisoners to read it and to agree to seek a hearing before a federal judge.
"There are reasons why people fought long and hard for this; it's a much more neutral forum with a better set of procedural and evidentiary rules," said Michael J. Berrigan, deputy chief defense counsel in the Pentagon's Office of Military Commissions.
"Any attorney worth their salt would seek review in federal court."
Because of the ruling, some attorneys representing detainees accused of war crimes are preparing motions to dismiss the charges, including lawyers for Salim Ahmed Hamdan, whose case was the first to go before a military commission, Berrigan said.
Hundreds of lawyers for detainees plan to demand status conferences with federal judges in Washington as part of a coordinated effort, said Shayana Kadidal, senior managing attorney for the Guantanamo Global Justice Initiative at the Center for Constitutional Rights in Washington.
Chief Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the U.S. District Court in Washington said he would call a meeting of judges to plan for new cases.
Many of the cases are already in the pipeline, Kadidal said. But he also predicted that the administration would release many detainees before formal court hearings to avoid the embarrassment of adverse findings.
"The day the government has to show up in court and justify holding these guys for six years, the day before that is the day they are likely to get released," Kadidal said. "We want quick hearings and a quick resolution, and more importantly, the Supreme Court also wants a speedy resolution to these claims."
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peter.spiegel@latimes.com
josh.meyer@latimes.com
Times staff writer Julian E. Barnes in Brussels contributed to this report.
