WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has rejected the government's efforts to restrict lawyers' access to detainees at Guantanamo Bay.
Chief Judge Royce Lamberth of the U.S. District Court in Washington says the detainees have the right to meet with their lawyers and that a 4-year-old court order dealing with lawyer access to the brig at the U.S. naval base in Cuba is working well.
Lamberth signed an order Thursday that sides with some detainees whose bids to challenge their confinement have been denied or dismissed. The order prohibits the government from imposing new restrictions on lawyer-client meetings.
Lamberth said that for the terrorist suspects at Guantanamo, "access to the courts means nothing without access to counsel."
A Justice Department spokesman said government lawyers were reviewing Lamberth's ruling.
