WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court declared Thursday that President Bush had overstepped his authority in the war against terrorism, ruling he does not have the power to set up special military trials at Guantanamo Bay without the approval of Congress.
In a 5-3 decision, the high court said the planned military tribunals lacked the basic standards of fairness required by the nation's Uniform Code of Military Justice and by the Geneva Convention.
The ruling is the most sweeping legal defeat for the administration in the 5-year-old war on terrorism, and it rejects the president's broad claim that the commander in chief can make the rules during an unconventional war.
Since 1929, the Geneva Convention has set rules for the conduct of wars and the treatment of prisoners, but Bush and his top advisors have maintained that it does not apply to suspected terrorists.
Still, the practical impact of Thursday's decision may be limited. The court said terrorism suspects could be tried under the rules for courts-martial used by the American military or under new rules that could be passed by Congress.
The decision does not free any terrorism suspects, as the president noted, nor does it change the status of the approximately 450 detainees at the U.S. military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Only 10 of them have been charged with war crimes.
The opinion was delivered by Justice John Paul Stevens, 86, the court's last veteran of World War II. He set forth a view of the Constitution in wartime that stood in sharp contrast to that of the president and his lawyers.
The Constitution gives Congress the power to make the laws and set the rules for handling wartime captives, Stevens said. It says Congress shall "make rules concerning captures on land and water," and also says Congress shall define the "offenses against the law of nations."
Despite those words, the president contended that as commander in chief of the armed forces, he had the power to decide how suspected terrorists would be held, how they were to be treated, how they would be tried and what offenses amounted to war crimes.
But Justice Stephen G. Breyer, in a concurring opinion, said: "The court's conclusion ultimately rests upon a single ground: Congress has not issued the executive a 'blank check.' "
Guantanamo Bay has become the focal point of international criticism of Bush's willingness to set aside established U.S. and international laws in the war against terrorism.
