SCOTUS Takes Enemy Combatant Case, But Will Justices Get to Hear It?
The U.S. Supreme Court justices agreed today to hear arguments about whether the president can order the detention of enemy combatants captured on U.S. soil.
President Bush and his advisers have long maintained that the executive has the authority to detain suspected terrorists as enemy combatants. But this case gives the high court a chance to review the procedures, the Associated Press reports.
SCOTUSblog points out that the briefs in the case won’t be filed until after President-elect Barack Obama takes office. So the new administration may have an opportunity to change the government’s position.
“If Obama should decide to forego the claim of power that is at issue, that could mean the case would come to an end without a ruling by the justices,” according to SCOTUSblog.
Justices agreed to hear the case of Ali al-Marri, a Qatar native and currently the only enemy combatant seized and held on U.S. soil. Authorities have identified al-Marri, who was arrested in Peoria, Ill., as an al-Qaida sleeper agent.
In a split decision, the Richmond, Va.-based 4th Circuit upheld the president’s authority to detain enemy combatants, but it said al-Marri should have the chance to challenge his status before a federal court.
