Colonel Morris Davis was the chief military prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay until he resigned in 2007, convinced that military tribunals could not provide fair trials. He became an outspoken critic of the military tribunal system. In 2008, he became an Assistant Director at the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. In 2009, he published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal and a Letter to the Editor in the Washington Post criticizing the Obama administration’s decision to resume using military tribunals for some Guantanamo detainees. The Director of CRS admonished Davis for publishing those pieces; when Davis did not agree to cease such public speech, he was terminated.
In December 2009, we sued the Library and the Director of CRS for violating Davis’ First Amendment rights. After years of litigation, including an appeal on the issue of qualified immunity, the case was settled in May 2016. Col. Davis received $100,000, and his discharge was changed to a voluntary resignation.
