The Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill today that would restore habeas corpus rights to detainees held at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Under legislation enacted last year to establish military commissions to try such detainees (PL 109-366), no court can consider an application for a writ of habeas corpus — essentially a legal challenge to imprisonment — from any detainee determined to be an enemy combatant or awaiting such a determination.

The committee voted 11-8 to approve the bill. The lone Republican supporting the measure was its sponsor, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. No opponents spoke about the legislation during the markup.

Chairman Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., said the rollback of habeas corpusrights last year was a “historic error in judgment” that the Senate should correct.