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Sign up todayThe Challenge
This audiobook uses AI narration.
We’re taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.
Learn moreIn November 2001, a thirty-one-year-old Yemeni man named Salim Ahmed Hamdan was captured near the Pakistan border and turned over to US forces in Afghanistan. After confessing to being Osama bin Laden’s driver, Hamdan was transferred to Guantánamo Bay and designated for trial before a special military tribunal.
The Pentagon assigned a young military defense lawyer, Lieutenant Commander Charles Swift, to represent him in a defense that no one expected to amount to much. But with the help of a young constitutional law professor, Neal Katyal, Swift sued the Bush administration over the legality of the tribunals—and won.
Written with the cooperation of Swift and Katyal, here is the inside story of this seminal case, perhaps the most important decision on presidential power and the rule of law in the history of the Supreme Court.
Jonathan Mahler, a writer for the New York Times Magazine, is the author of Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bronx Is Burning.
William Hughes is an AudioFile Earphones Award–winning narrator. A professor of political science at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, Oregon, he received his doctorate in American politics from the University of California at Davis. He has done voice-over work for radio and film and is also an accomplished jazz guitarist.
Reviews
“The Challenge is not just a very readable account of an important case. It is also an intimate account of the lawyers who overcame personal conflicts, animus, and flaws to produce a decision for the ages.”
“A work of rare drama.”
“For those who thrill to what might be called the geology of American constitutional bedrock, The Challenge is a riveting read.”
“Mahler excels at telling the story of a talented, fractious team coming together for a greater goal.”
“An excellent legal thriller.”
“[Mahler’s] ability to communicate the grave constitutional consequences of the case and the often bizarrely circuitous path they must take to reach the Supreme Court make for a thrilling and moving drama of justice, democracy, and the patriotism of challenging your own government.”
“Mahler skillfully humanizes the characters and institutions at the heart of the case…[and] amply conveys the heroism of his protagonists.”
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