By William Branigin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 29, 2006; 10:44 AM
The Supreme Court today delivered a stunning rebuke to the Bush administration over its plans to try Guantanamo detainees before military commissions, ruling that the commissions are unconstitutional.
In a 5-3 decision, the court said the trials were not authorized under U.S. law or the Geneva Conventions. Justice John Paul Stevens wrote the opinion in the case, called Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. recused himself from the case.
The ruling, which overturned a federal appeals court decision in which Roberts had participated, represented a defeat for President Bush, who had ordered military trials for detainees at the Guantanamo Bay naval base. About 450 detainees captured in the war on terrorism are currently held at the U.S. naval base in Cuba.
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The case raised core constitutional principles of separation of powers as well as fundamental issues of individual rights.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/29/AR2006062900928.html+++++++++++
There is much, much more at the article and obviously the day will bring scads of analysis. THANK YOU SCOTUS for standing up to the Executive Branch!