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Friday, Jun 30, 2006

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Bush overstepped his authority: Court

Supreme Court blocks Guantanamo trials

WASHINGTON: The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that President George W. Bush overstepped his authority in ordering military war crimes trials for Guantanamo Bay detenus.

The ruling, a strong rebuke to the administration and its aggressive anti-terror policies, was written by Justice John Paul Stevens, who said the proposed trials were illegal under the U.S. law and international Geneva conventions.

The case focused on Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni who worked as a bodyguard and driver for Osama bin Laden. Mr. Hamdan (36) has spent four years in the U.S. prison in Cuba. He faces a single count of conspiring against U.S. citizens from 1996 to November 2001.

The ruling raises major questions about the legal status of the approximately 450 men still being held at Guantanamo and exactly how, when and where the administration will pursue the charges against them.

It also seems likely to further fuel the widespread international criticism of the administration, including by many U.S. allies, for its handling of its terror war detenus at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib in Iraq and elsewhere.

Two years ago, the court rejected Mr. Bush's claim to have the authority to seize and detain terrorism suspects and indefinitely deny them access to courts or lawyers. In this follow-up case, the justices focused solely on the issue of trials for some of the men.

The vote was split 5-3, with moderate Justice Anthony M. Kennedy joining the Court's liberal members in most of the ruling against the Bush administration. Chief Justice John Roberts, named to the lead the court last September by Mr. Bush, was sidelined in the case because as an appeals court judge he had backed the Government over Mr. Hamdan.

Thursday's ruling overturned that decision.

Mr. Bush spokesman Tony Snow said the White House would have no comment until lawyers had had a chance to review the decision.

The administration had hinted in recent weeks that it was prepared for the Court to set back its plans for trying Guantanamo detenus. Mr. Bush also has told reporters, ``I'd like to close Guantanamo.'' The Court's ruling says nothing about whether the prison should be shut down, dealing only with plans to put detenus on trial. — AP

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