Charles Swift

Charles D. Swift
LCDR Swift (retired) speaking at a press conference.

Charles D. Swift (born 1961) is a former Lieutenant Commander (LCDR) in the U.S. Navy, Judge Advocate General's Corps and Visiting Associate Professor of Law at Emory University School of Law. During the course of his Navy career, he was assigned to the Department of Defense Office of Military Commissions. He is most famous for having served as defense counsel for Salim Ahmed Hamdan.^[1] Hamdan, a former driver for Osama bin Laden captured during the invasion of Afghanistan, was charged in July 2004 with conspiracy to commit terrorism.^[2] As Hamdan's legal counsel, Swift, together with the Seattle law firm of Perkins Coie and Georgetown Law Professor Neal Katyal, appealed Hamdan's writ of habeas corpus petition to the U. S. Supreme Court. In Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 548 U.S. 557, 126 S.Ct. 2749 (2006), the justices ultimately held that the military commission to try Salim Hamdan was illegal and violated the Geneva Conventions as well as the United States Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ).^[3][4] Ultimately, Swift was passed over (the second time) for promotion and as a result had to retire under the military's "up or out" promotion system which mandates retirement for officers passed over twice.^[5] Swift stated he learned of being passed over two weeks after the Supreme Court decided in Hamdan's favor, a timing Swift's supervisor called "quite a coincidence."^[6] Other commentators such as the New York Times^[7] and Vanity Fair^[8] reported that the timing was not a coincidence, suggesting it was politically motivated; a charge that Deputy Judge Advocate General Charles J. Dunlap Jr. later said was without evidence.^[9]

Background

Born in 1961, Charles Swift is a native of Franklin, North Carolina. Following his graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1984, Swift served in a variety of surface warfare billets as described in the below table. In 1991, he left active service to attend Seattle University School of Law, where he graduated cum laude. Resuming active service in 1994, he affiliated with the navy’s Judge Advocate General's Corps (1994–present). In 1999, LCDR Swift received a Master of Law Degree in litigation with high honors from the Temple University Beasley School of Law through a scholarship from the U.S Navy Judge Advocate General. A comprehensive biography can be found here ^[10] (website for the Association of Graduates of the United States Military Academy, different from LCDR Swift's commissioning source). From fall 2007 to spring 2008, Swift taught at Emory Law School as a Visiting Associate Professor and Acting Director of its newly established International Humanitarian Law Clinic.^[11]

Summary of LCDR Swift's assignments:

Years	Assignments
1985–1987	USS Niagara Falls (AFS-3), Agana, Guam: Damage Control Assistant
1988–1990	USS Rathburne (FF-1057), Pearl Harbor, Hawaii: Navigator
1990–1991	Surface Warfare Department Head School, Newport, Rhode Island: Assistant for International Training
1995–1997	Naval Legal Service Office Northwest
1997–2000	Naval Station Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico
2000–2003	Naval Legal Service Detachment, Mayport, FL
2003–2005	Office of Military Commissions; The US Navy lawyer who successfully represented the plaintiff Guantanamo detainee in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld[5] and took his case all the way to the US Supreme Court had not been selected a promotion and left the military that spring, the Associated Press reported. Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift,[6] who has worked in the Department of Defense Office of Military Commissions since 2003, said he learned about two weeks after the Hamdan decision that he would not receive a promotion to commander.

Accolades

Swift was the subject of a brief biographical article in the December 2004 issue of Esquire.^[12] In December 2005 he was chosen as runner-up Lawyer of the Year by the National Law Journal for his challenge to the Guantanamo review tribunals. In December 2005 Swift and Lieutenant Colonel Sharon Shaffer were awarded the Joe A. Callaway Award for Civic Courage.^[13] In June 2006, the National Law Journal also named Swift as one of "The 100 most influential lawyers in America."^[14]

LCDR Swift's decorations and medals include:^[15]

• Surface Warfare Badge
• Navy Commendation Medal (2 awards)
• Navy Achievement Medal (6 awards)
• Navy Expeditionary Medal
• Humanitarian Service Medal
• Sea Service Ribbon (4 awards)

A book-length treatment of Swift and the case was published in 2008 called The Challenge: Hamdan v. Rumsfeld and the Fight Over Presidential Power (ISBN 978-0374223205) by Jonathan Mahler.

See also

Biography portal

• Hamdan v. Rumsfeld
• Matthew Diaz

References

1. ^ Navigating an odyssey to Guantánamo Bay, National Law Journal, December 2005
2. ^ Charge Sheets for Salim Ahmed Hamdan, Department of Defense
3. ^ "US court rejects Guantanamo trial". BBC News. June 29, 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/5129904.stm. Retrieved January 2, 2010. 
4. ^ "Hamdan v. Rumsfeld" (PDF). Supreme Court of the United States. http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/05pdf/05-184.pdf. 
5. ^ ^{a b} Hamdan Navy lawyer denied promotion, will leave US military, JURIST, October 10, 2006
6. ^ ^{a b} "Paper: Detainee Lawyer Must Leave Navy". Washington Post. Sunday, October 8, 2006. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/08/AR2006100800603.html. Retrieved 2010-06-08. 
7. ^ "The Cost of Doing Your Duty". New York Times. October 11, 2006. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/11/opinion/11wed2.html. Retrieved 2010-06-08. 
8. ^ Marie Brenner. "Taking on Guantánamo". Vanity Fair. http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/03/guantanamo200703. 
9. ^ Deputy Judge Advocate General Charles J. Dunlap Jr. (October 16, 2006). "Navy Lawyer's Career". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9906EFD61E30F93BA25753C1A9609C8B63. Retrieved 2010-06-08. 
10. ^ http://www.aogusma.org/soc/southfl/swiftbio.htm
11. ^ "Faculty Profile of Charles D. Swift". Emory University School of Law. http://www.law.emory.edu/faculty/faculty-profiles/charles-d-swift.html. Retrieved 2007-09-17. ^{[dead link]}
12. ^ BEST & BRIGHTEST 2004: Charles Swift, Esquire, December 2004
13. ^ "Lawyers for Guantanamo prisoners lauded". Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. 2006-03-08. http://www.niemanwatchdog.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=showcase.view&showcaseid=35. Retrieved 2010-09-04.  mirror
14. ^ The 100 most influential lawyers in America, National Law Journal
15. ^ Biography, United States Navy, Lieutenant Commander Charles D. Swift, Association of Graduates of the USMA

External links

• Navy Lawyer Charles Swift Battles Bush in Guantanamo Bay Case, Bloomberg.com, March 2006
• Testimony of Lieutenant Commander Charles D. Swift, U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, June 2005
• "Marine Corps Issues Gag Order in Detainee Abuse Case". Article about a legal team representing a different detainee (Omar Khadr) at Guantanamo, by Carol J. Williams, Los Angeles Times, October 15, 2006, accessed on October 31, 2006.
• Eroding detainees rights. Nat Hentoff, The Washington Times, October 30, 2006, accessed on October 31, 2006.
• FY07 Navy Line O5 Board
• Jonathan Mahler: The Challenge, Authors@Google video lecture (45 min). September 26, 2008

Persondata
Name	Swift, Charles
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Date of birth	1961
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