Boumediene v. Bush

The more important holding issuing from the federal court system today, of course, was the 2-1 ruling by the D.C. circuit rejecting the habeas petitions of prisoners being held without charges at Gitmo. I haven’t had a chance to read it yet; the TD, Hilzoy, and Marty Lederman have commentary. Lederman suggests that it will be a close case at the Supreme Court: his prediction is that the Court (which essentially comes down to Kennedy in this case) will reject claims that Gitmo isn’t sovereign U.S. territory, but whether habeas has been stripped and whether review by the D.C. Circuit is adequate will be touch-and-go. I can’t say I have much faith in Kennedy, but you never know.