The U.S. Supreme Court handed the Bush administration a major defeat with regard to its policy of holding military tribunals to try detainees at Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba. The court's vote was 5-3 against the Constitutionality of the Bush administration's proposed military tribunals.
'The military commission at issue is not expressly authorized by any congressional act,' explained Justice John Paul Stevens, who wrote the majority decision for the court. Stevens said that the tribunals 'must be understood to incorporate at least the barest of those trial protections that have been recognized by customary international law.'
'In undertaking to try Hamdan and subject him to criminal punishment, the executive (Bush) is bound to comply with the rule of law that prevails in this jurisdiction,' Stevens said.
The case involved Salim Ahmed Hamdan, the former driver and bodyguard for al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Hamden's attorneys argued that the Bush administration had exceeded its authority when it declared the Yemeni man an 'enemy combatant' and not a prisoner of war.
By designating Hamdan an 'enemy combatant' the Bush administration claimed they could hold suspects without charges in a military prison without the protections of the U.S. criminal justice system or the protections of the Geneva Conventions. The Supreme Court's decision rejects this argument.
Guantanamo Bay prison was opened in 2002 and still holds more than 450 prisoners. Most of them have been held for two years or more and have not been charged with any crime.
Hamden's attorney, Neal Katyal argued that the government's charge of conspiracy against Hamdan is not allowed under international standards of law for prisoners of war.
Chief Justice John Roberts did not participate in the decision as he heard the case last year while serving as judge on a lower federal appeals court. Roberts ruled against the government last year when deciding the case.
The legal fate of the 450 detainees remains uncertain.
