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`No blank cheque for Bush administration'

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, JUNE 28. In what is seen as a mixed verdict but nevertheless a repudiation of the Bush administration's argument on detainees, the United States Supreme Court has ruled that the federal government has the power to hold American citizens and foreign nationals without trials and charges, but that these detainees can have their day in court. The majority of the justices took the position that while Congress may have given the President broad authority to hold detainees, this should not be interpreted as some kind of a blank cheque when it came to the question of nationals' rights.

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, writing her ruling on the American-born detainee Yaser Esam Hamdi said that the Court has "made clear that a state of war is not a blank cheque for the President when it comes to the right of the nation's citizens".

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