Rule of Law Oral History Project

A. Raymond Randolph

Senior Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit

An interview with A. Raymond Randolph conducted January 15 and January 16, 2013 by Myron A. Farber for the Columbia Center for Oral History, Rule of Law Oral History Project. 

In the D.C. Circuit, Judge Randolph wrote the majority opinions for the landmark Guantánamo Bay detainee habeas cases Al Odah v. United States, Rasul v. Bush, and Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, in which he ruled that Guantánamo detainees did not have rights under the United States Constitution. In each case, Judge Randolph’s opinions were reversed by the Supreme Court. Highlights of this interview include discussions of Judge Randolph’s clerkship with Judge Henry J. Friendly, the Nixon administration and the Watergate scandal, the origin and application of habeas corpus, the concept of originalism and the U.S. Constitution, the application of Geneva Convention rules in Guantánamo detainee cases, and Judge Randolph’s 2010 “Guantánamo Mess” address at The Heritage Foundation. 

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