Judge John Bates of the US District Court for the District of Columbia ruled May 19 on the limits of detaining terrorism suspects at Guantánamo Bay who are not actual members of terrorist groups under the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), rejecting the Obama administration's "substantial support" standard. The opinion rejected the government's argument that an individual who "substantially supports" a terrorist organization such as the "Taliban, al-Qaeda or an associated force" but is not a member can be detained pursuant to the AUMF.

A coalition of progressive organizations May 18 filed disciplinary complaints with five state bar associations seeking the disbarment of 12 former US government officials associated with the legal rationales behind the Bush administration's use of so-called enhanced interrogation techniques. Complaints filed by the group Velvet Revolution with the bar associations of New York, Pennsylvania, California, Texas, and the District of Columbia allege that former attorneys general John Ashcroft, Alberto Gonzales and Michael Mukasey, former Office of Legal Council lawyers John Yoo and Jay Bybee, former vice presidential chief of staff David Addington, former Pentagon official Douglas Feith, and other government officials violated the Rules of Professional Conduct by advocating the use of torture and should be disbarred as a result.

The US Supreme Court on May 18 ruled 5-4 in Ashcroft v. Iqbal that a complaint filed against former Attorney General John Ashcroft, FBI director Robert Mueller and other officials failed to demonstrate an intentional pattern of discrimination. Pakistani national Javaid Iqbal, detained on an immigration violation in the wake of the 9-11 attacks, alleged mistreatment by the FBI based on religious and ethnic bias during his detention in a Brooklyn maximum security federal prison, and that Ashcroft and Meuller became complicit in the discrimination when they approved the policy that resulted in his detention.

US President Barack Obama announced May 15 that he is reinstating the controversial military commission system to try some Guantánamo Bay detainees. Obama said that there will be changes to the system to increase defendants' rights, including barring statements obtained under harsh interrogation methods and making it more difficult to introduce hearsay evidence. The administration will also seek a 90-day continuance of pending proceedings to implement the new rules, ask Congress to make changes to the Military Commissions Act of 2006 to give defendants expanded rights.

US officials said May 15 that Algerian Guantánamo Bay detainee Lakhdar Boumediene has been released and sent to France. Boumediene was the named plaintiff in the US Supreme Court case Boumediene v. Bush , in which the Court held that Guantanamo detainees could challenge their imprisonment in federal court through the use of habeas corpus motions.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay in a May 14 New York Times op-ed, urged the US to hold accountable those accused of committing torture under the Bush administration. Pillay welcomed the US as a new member of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and lauded decisions by President Barack Obama to ban torture and close CIA prisons and to review detentions at Guantánamo Bay, but said that the US should hold accountable anyone who committed human rights abuses:

Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said May 14 that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) misled Congress about the use of so-called enhanced interrogation techniques during the Bush administration. Pelosi, the former top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said that CIA officials had explicitly said that they were not using the controversial waterboarding technique. Pelosi did concede that she had learned in 2003 that harsh techniques were being employed but defended her decision not to speak up over security concerns. Pelosi renewed calls for an independent "truth commission" to investigate alleged abuses committed during the Bush administration.

US President Barack Obama has decided to seek a delay of the release of photographs depicting abusive treatment of detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan, reversing an earlier decision, White House officials said May 13. Last month, the Department of Justice agreed to release at least 44 photographs pursuant to a court order. The photos were scheduled to be released May 28. Obama reversed that decision after meeting last week with White house lawyers, citing concerns over retribution against US troops serving overseas. Senators Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) also wrote to Obama last week to urge him to fight the release of the photos.