Despite not being accused “dirty bomber” Jose Padilla’s lead attorney, Jenny Martinez was chosen to argue his case, Rumsfeld v. Padilla, before the U.S. Supreme Court, with less than a week’s notice. Martinez’s argument was successful, and the case on the constitutionality of Padilla’s detention in a military jail in South Carolina without legal representation was returned to lower court. It’s now on appeal at the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and Martinez expects it to return to the Supreme Court.
In addition to her courtroom experience, Martinez has worked on Bosnia war crimes trials at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands, where she was an associate legal officer under Judge Patricia Wald for a year after clerking for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. She has published work with the renowned U.S. judge.
