On September 28, 2006, the US Senate voted 65-34 to approve its version of the Military Commissions Act of 2006. The vote came after the narrow rejection of several amendments, including one sponsored by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) which would have eliminated a provision stripping detainees of the right to file habeas corpus petitions in federal court. Specter and nine former federal judges publicly questioned the constitutionality of the legislation. The habeas corpus provisions were later ruled unconstitutional.

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