Washington – The Supreme Court said Monday that it would hear a challenge to the Bush administration’s plan to try alleged foreign terrorists in special military courts, setting the stage for a ruling on whether the Geneva Conventions trump the president’s go-it-alone policy in the war on terrorism.
The case, to be heard in the spring, will set the rules for the first war-crimes trials for foreign prisoners since World War II. The battle will take place against a backdrop of growing criticism of the Bush administration’s handling of foreign prisoners.
To the dismay of some U.S. allies, the White House said four years ago that foreign fighters captured in the war on terrorism were not entitled to the Geneva Conventions’ protections for prisoners of war because terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda were not government entities nor signatories to the agreement.
The U.S. Defense Department also has refused to account for all the foreigners being held by the United States or to allow international inspectors to observe the conditions of every terrorism suspect in U.S. custody.
Last year, the Supreme Court took a first step toward reining in the White House over its handling of foreign detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The administration had maintained the men were outside the jurisdiction of U.S. courts because they were outside U.S. territory.
Disagreeing, the Supreme Court said the Constitution gave the prisoners – and indeed all in U.S. custody – a right to challenge their detentions in court. But the ruling stopped short of deciding the legal process that would resolve the complaints.
The new case will decide the rules for the handful of prisoners who are being charged with war crimes or terrorist offenses.
At issue is whether Salim Ahmed Hamdan, who was a driver and bodyguard for al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, and other accused terrorists are entitled to the legal rules standard in a criminal trial or a court-martial of U.S. military personnel.
Hamdan has been held at Guantanamo since June 2002.
