Top > World > 2005 > November > 2005-11-11

Supreme Court Challenge to Military Tribunals

The Supreme Court agreed this week to review a constitutional challenge to the Bush administration`s military trials for foreign terror suspects, stepping into a high-stakes test of the president`s wartime powers. The court`s intervention is troubling news for the White House, which has been battered by criticism of its treatment of detainees and was rebuked by the high court last year for holding enemy combatants in legal limbo.

The Pentagon announced Monday that five additional terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay will face military trials on various charges including attacking civilians and murder. Guantanamo has become a flash point for criticism of America overseas and at home. Initially, the Bush administration refused to let the men see attorneys or challenge their imprisonment in courts.

New Chief Justice John Roberts took himself out of the case because as an appeals court judge he backed the government in the same appeal. If Bush nominee Samuel Alito is confirmed, he could be a pivotal figure when the case is argued next spring. Scott Silliman, a Duke University law professor, said the court in taking the case seemed to be making a statement that it would "define the perimeters of this war and what tools the president has available to him in this unique environment."