WASHINGTON, April 20 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court heard argument Tuesday on whether terror suspects being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, may ask the federal courts to review their cases.
About 600 detainees are believed held at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo. The Bush administration says they are "enemy combatants" held on foreign soil and not subject to U.S. courts.
Speaking for the detainees, former U.S. Circuit Judge John Gibbons said U.S. courts have jurisdiction under the 1789 habeas corpus statute. The law only requires detainees be in federal custody and the proper authorities be named in the case, he said.
U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson told the justices: "The United States is at war," and under Supreme Court precedent, enemy combatants held on foreign soil do not have such access.
The Supreme Court should hand down a decision before recessing for the summer in late June or early July.
