Charles Swift
Charles Swift (born 1962 in Franklin, North Carolina ) is a former Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy, who served as a military lawyer in the Judge Advocate General's Corps. Most recently, he was employed in the Office of Military Commissions of the U.S. Department of Defense, which was established in February 2004 to manage the Guantanamo military tribunals. He also represented the applicant of the process Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. Since 2007 he has Unscheduled professor at the School of Law at Emory University in DeKalb County, Georgia.
Life
Swift ended 1984, the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis with a Bachelor of Science degree in history from. In 1985 he studied at the Division Officers School in San Diego ( California). In 1994 he graduated from the Seattle School of Law his Doctor of Jurisprudence and visited the base price for lawyers at the Naval Justice School.
After graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy, he served from 1985-87 as damage control assistant aboard the USS Niagara Falls ( AFS -3) in Agana ( Guam), 1988-90 as a navigator on the USS Rathburne (FF -1057 ) (Pearl Harbor, Hawaii) and from 1990-91 as an assistant for International education at the Surface Warfare Department Head School in Newport (Rhode Iceland ).
He retired in 1991 from active duty to study at the Seattle School of Law. After he had passed with distinction, he returned to active duty and served in the Judge Advocate General's Corps of the U.S. Navy ( JAGC ). Its use in JAGC of 1995-97 was that of a defense adviser and legal officer in the Naval Legal Service northwest. He was also awarded as Junior Officer of the Year in 1997. His next use was from 1997-2000 that the Staff Judge Advocate and Special Assistant to the U.S. prosecutor for the Naval Base Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico. After that, he was employed until 2003 as a senior officer of the second largest legal department of the U.S. Navy at the Naval Base Mayport (Florida ). In 2003, he was transferred as a defense consultant and military lawyer in the Office of Military Tribunals (Office of Military Commissions ).
Swift defended Salim Ahmed Hamdan in 2006 in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld process. Hamdan was a bodyguard and driver of the al - Qaeda leadership figure Osama bin Laden. He procured as a defender a landmark judgment of the Supreme Court of the United States. On 29 June 2006 decided that the military tribunals at Guantánamo are not legal. President George W. Bush had exceeded his authority, the judges. A part of the judgment that the military tribunals set up by Bush in Guantanamo Bay are unconstitutional. Swift commented on the decision, saying: "It was a long way. ".
Swift had up to this point over nine years litigation experience, including six as legal counsel. He had represented more than 150 soldiers ( 20 of them in a military court ). In December 2005, was elected lawyers Charles Swift of the year by the National Law Journal.
In autumn 2006, it was announced that the U.S. Navy refused his upcoming promotion and thus effectively ended his career in the Navy. Commander Swift announced to resign from the Navy in the spring of 2007.
Since 2007 he has been adjunct Visiting Professor at the School of Law at Emory University in DeKalb County, Georgia, and acting director of the newly established International Humanitarian Law Clinic.
His awards include: the Navy Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters, the Navy Achievement Medal with six oak leaf clusters, the Navy Expeditionary Medal, the Humanitarian Service Medal and the Sea Service Ribbin with four oak leaf clusters.