Guantanamo: important legal victory.

[zotz]

Correction: a US federal circuit court has ruled that the Guantanamo Bay prisoners may have the right to be treated as prisoners of war, and therefore the current tribunals are not legal until this point is determined. The federal government are expected to appeal to a higher court. BBC story here.

Comments

[nickys.livejournal.com]

Well, it's a chink of light in an otherwise insanely dark situation.
Here's hoping...

[zotz]

They could still manage to knobble the supreme court before the case gets there . . .

[dennyd.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was wondering how immediate their 'immediate appeal' is going to be... it might well favour them to be a little relaxed about how fast they chase this up, give themselves time to stack the deck.

[zotz]

Possibly. Actually I suspect that they won't make specific efforts, because they'd have to live with the consequences afterwards. Choosing a supreme court justice is a very broad-brush exercise.

As for timing, I think it has to go to an appeal court before the Supreme Court was consider considering it, so it won't be a fast process however they play it.