To: Oral Roberts who wrote (8857 ) 6/29/2006 10:54:08 AM From: Proud_Infidel Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 14758 Supreme Court Blocks Guantanamo Bay War-Crimes Trialsfoxnews.com WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court delivered a blow to the Bush administration's anti-terror policies Thursday when it ruled that the president was out of line when he ordered military war-crimes trials for Guantanamo Bay detainees who have not been declared prisoners of war. Justice John Paul Stevens wrote the opinion, which said the proposed trials were illegal under U.S. law and Geneva conventions. A huge question in this case was whether the Geneva Conventions applied to prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay. The Bush administration argued that these detainees were not prisoners of war and therefore, not eligible to treatment under the Geneva agreement. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a strongly worded dissent, saying the court's decision would "sorely hamper the president's ability to confront and defeat a new and deadly enemy." The court's willingness, Thomas said, "to second-guess the determination of the political branches that these conspirators must be brought to justice is both unprecedented and dangerous." The case focused on Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni who worked as a bodyguard and driver for Usama bin Laden. Hamdan, 36, has spent four years in the U.S. prison at Guantanamo. He faces a single count of conspiring against U.S. citizens from 1996 to November 2001. The administration said foreign terror suspects don't have the right to come into U.S. courts and demand all of the rights afforded to U.S. citizens under the legal system here but that they would be given some rights under rules for the tribunals. The justices said conspiracy was not an appropriate charge under the so-called "laws of war," under which the administration said it could set up the tribunals. Two years ago, the court rejected 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 Kennedy joining Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, David Souter and Stevens in the majority. Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia voted in the minority. Chief Justice John Roberts, named to the lead the court last September by Bush, was sidelined in the case because as an appeals court judge he had backed the government over Hamdan. Thursday's ruling overturned that decision. In his opinion, Breyer said, "Congress has not issued the executive a 'blank check."' "Indeed, Congress has denied the president the legislative authority to create military commissions of the kind at issue here. Nothing prevents the president from returning to Congress to seek the authority he believes necessary," Breyer wrote. Bush spokesman Tony Snow said the White House would have no comment until lawyers had had a chance to review the decision. Officials at the Defense and Justice Departments were planning to issue statements later in the day. The administration had hinted in recent weeks that it was prepared for the court to set back its plans for trying Guantanamo detainees. The president also has told reporters, "I'd like to close Guantanamo." But he added, "I also recognize that we're holding some people that are darn dangerous." The court's ruling says nothing about whether the prison should be shut down, dealing only with plans to put detainees on trial. "Trial by military commission raises separation-of-powers concerns of the highest order," Kennedy wrote in his opinion. Ret. Army Maj. Gen. Robert Scales, who just returned from Guantanamo Bay, said every government branch needs to be on the same page as to how to deal with terror suspect in the United States. "the American people and the Supreme Court and the rest of people in the enlightened world ... have to decide for themselves, are we in a state of war or are we not in a state of war?" Scales said. "The enemy is using our confusion about the conditions in the world today to their advantage and ultimately, we're going to end up with innocent dead in Europe, the United States and elsewhere in the world." The prison at Guantanamo Bay, erected in the months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on the United States, has been a flash point for international criticism. Hundreds of people suspected of ties to Al Qaeda and the Taliban — including some teenagers — have been there since 2002. Three detainees committed suicide there this month, using sheets and clothing to hang themselves. The deaths brought new scrutiny and criticism of the prison, along with fresh calls for its closing.