To the Editor:

Once again, Tom Mountain cannot seem to get the facts straight ("ADL evokes echoes of Skokie," June 27).

Contrary to his perception, ADL did not dispatch lawyers to Guantanamo and the case before the U.S. Supreme Court was not about advocating for the release of terrorists, but rather upholding the right of habeas corpus, one of this country's oldest Constitutional rights.

Some of the detainees have been held for more than six years without the opportunity to challenge their detention. This month, the court agreed that habeas corpus applies to them, just as it does to everyone else on American soil.

The decision, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, declared that "Liberty and security can be reconciled" and "The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times."

The decision ensures that regardless of the accusations, before an individual is imprisoned indefinitely he or she still has the Constitutional right to challenge the detention.

ADL was hardly alone among civil and human rights organizations speaking out about the rights of Guantanamo detainees. A broad coalition of human rights, public interest and religious groups signed on to the "friend of the court" brief, including the American Jewish Committee, Human Rights First, Human Rights Watch, People for the American Way and The Rutherford Institution.

Yet, Mr. Mountain seems content only to wage an ad hominem attack on ADL, and in the final analysis this seems to be his real agenda.