“Finally, after nearly six years, the Supreme Court is going to rule on the ultimate question: does the Constitution protect the people detained at Guantanamo Bay?” said Neal K. Katyal, a Georgetown University law professor who argued the last Supreme Court case involving the Guantanamo detainees. In that case, decided last June, the justices struck down the administration’s planned system for war crimes trials of detainees.  The issue in the case the court agreed to hear today is whether the Congress can strip the federal courts of the power to hear habeas corpus cases filed by Guantanamo detainees. In legislation passed after last June’s Supreme Court ruling, Congress included a provision barring such suits by the detainees.  “The Supreme Court has taken a giant step toward ensuring the detainees a day in court,” said David H. Remes, a Washington lawyer who represents Yemeni detainees at Guantanamo.  The Justice Department has argued that the nation’s defense would be imperiled if habeas corpus cases can be used by federal judges to second guess military officials’ decisions to detain enemies during wartime.  "We are disappointed with the decision, but are confident in our legal arguments and look forward to presenting them before the Court," said a Justice Department spokesman, Erik Ablin.  Today’s order permitting the case to be argued in the Supreme Court was a different result than the justices reached on April 2, when they decided not to hear the case at that time. Unusual language in justices’ statements accompanying that order had suggested maneuvering among the justices on whether or when they should again get involved in the tangled legal questions presented by Guantanamo.
Reversing course, the Supreme Court agreed to review whether detainees may go to federal court to challenge their indefinite confinement.