Good news or bad news? Supreme Court agrees to hear Gitmo detainee case

By Diane Silver

Normally I'd be thrilled by the news that the U.S. Supreme Court will review whether Guantanamo Bay detainees can go before federal courts. Normally I'd be just as giddy as Professor Eric Freedman. The Washington Post reports:

"This is a stunning victory for the detainees," said Eric M. Freedman, professor of constitutional law at Hofstra Law School, who has been advising the detainees. "It goes well beyond what we asked for, and clearly indicates the unease up there" at the Supreme Court.

But this is the George W. Bush packed court. As my co-blogger Nancy Jane Moore has noted repeatedly, these aren't folks who have been very friendly to ideas that are any more recent than the 17th Century.

Of course, the really good news is that if this very conservative court strikes down the Bushie approach to locking detainees away and throwing out the key, then George W. and friends are truly up the creek without a paddle.

Stay tuned for more thrilling episodes of "George W. vs. The Constitution."

By the way, the cases the Supremes are taking up are are Boumediene v. Bush, 06-1195, and Al Odah v. U.S., 06-1196.