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This is the thread for a legal oriented discussion of Rasul v. Bush, which may be the worst Supreme Court decision since the Dred Scott case. The link is to an Adobe Acrobat reader version of the ruling's text. I'm a lawyer and will analyze this opinion, and its implications, later today after studying it more carefully.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court (news - web sites) ruled on Monday that foreign terrorism suspects at a U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba can use the American legal system to challenge their detention, a major defeat for President Bush. By a 6-3 vote, the justices ruled that American courts do have jurisdiction to consider the claims of the prisoners who say in their lawsuits they are being held illegally in violation of their rights.

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court ruled narrowly Monday that Congress gave President Bush (news - web sites) the power to hold an American citizen without charges or trial, but said the detainee can challenge his treatment in court.   The ruling sided with the administration on an important legal point raised in the war on terrorism. At the same time, it left unanswered other hard questions raised by the case of Yaser Esam Hamdi, who has been detained more than two years and who was only recently allowed to see a lawyer. The administration had fought any suggestion that Hamdi...

breaking news...

Abdi Accused Of Plotting To Blow Up Mall COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The attorney for a man charged with plotting to bomb a shopping mall said Wednesday his client was "stripped of his identity" while in federal custody. Attorney Mahir Sherif said in an e-mail to The Associated Press that after Nuradin Abdi's arrest last November, he was booked into an immigration jail under the name "John Doe." "His jailers addressed him as John Doe and any correspondence he received was addressed to John Doe," Sherif said. "His family ... and all other relatives were not allowed to see or visit...

    U.S. to Release Secret Memos on Prisoner TreatmentTue Jun 22, 2004 12:19 PM ET By Charles Aldinger WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Under criticism for the treatment of U.S. prisoners, the Pentagon will release secret orders from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on interrogating terrorism suspects in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, officials said on Tuesday. The officials said some details of guidelines issued by Rumsfeld earlier this year would be made public quickly in order to show that some 600 Taliban and al Qaeda suspects held at the U.S. Navy Base at Guantanamo were not being tortured. Treatment of the Guantanamo...

<p>Few issues better illustrate the differences between President Bush and John Kerry than their respective approaches to combating terrorism. Following the September 11 attacks, Mr. Bush jettisoned the Clinton method, which focused on trying terrorists in the courts, in favor of a military approach aimed at killing or capturing terrorists who target Americans. For his part, Mr. Kerry states that the Bush administration has "exaggerated" the threat and that he views terrorism as "primarily an intelligence and law enforcement operation." The problem with Mr. Kerry's approach is that requiring the government to present evidence sufficient to convict a terrorist in court could enable some very dangerous people to go free.</p>

Proof, Negative The Justice Department's triumphant victory over the Constitution. By Dahlia Lithwick Posted Wednesday, June 2, 2004, at 4:02 PM PT Two years and counting With a triumphant chorus of "We-told-you-so"s, the Justice Department unveiled yesterday a seven-page document summarizing all the accumulated evil that lurks in the heart of alleged enemy combatant Jose Padilla. Why release all this information now? The folks at Justice say they were just responding to a request from Sen. Orrin Hatch. As though Hatch's was the first and only demand for some tangible piece of evidence against Padilla. ... The DOJ insists that...