‘Political question’ raised in move to dismiss J’can fishermen’s claim
THE UNITED States Government has moved a motion for the court to dismiss the suit by four Jamaican fishermen who have accused the US Coast Guard (USCG) of holding them captive in inhumane conditions for over a month.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in June filed a suit on behalf of Robert Weir, Patrick Ferguson, David Williams, and Luther Patterson in which they claimed that they were captured by members of the USCG, stripped naked, given white, paperthin overalls and disposable slippers to wear instead, and subsequently chained by their ankles to metal cables.
A fifth fisherman, George Thompson, who was also detained, is not part of the suit.
The fishermen were initially hit with marijuana-related charges, but when the ganja rap collapsed, they were convicted on charges of providing false information to the Coast Guard about the boat’s destination.
In court documents obtained by The Gleaner, the US Government wants the claim dismissed on ‘political question’grounds, arguing that US courts cannot inquire into and adjudicate the men’s allegations of forced disappearance, prolonged arbitrary detention, and their abusive treatment.
It said that the men’s 32-day detention on USCG ships was governed by the terms of the US-Jamaica Shiprider agreement as part of the 1988 Vienna Counter Trafficking Convention.
This agreement, the US Government argued, provides no private cause of action to the citizens of one State over and against the other sovereign State.
Political Question:
In United States Constitutional law, the political question is related to the concept of justiciability, in terms of whether the court system is an appropriate forum in which to hear a case.