WASHINGTON, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday refused to hear the case of an alleged former bodyguard of Osama bin Laden before it is heard by an appeals court.
The suspect, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, had asked the high court to hear his case this term, bypassing the appeals court. But the Justice Department argued that the case should be heard first by the appeals court.
A federal judge earlier ruled the administration cannot bypass the Geneva Convention by holding military commissions to try the suspect and presumably others at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Lawyers for Hamdan had filed suit challenging the Defense Department's plan to try him "for alleged war crimes before a military commission convened under special orders issued by the president of the United States, rather than before a court-martial convened under the Uniform Code of Military Justice."
The judge ruled unless a "competent tribunal" determines Hamdan is not entitled to prisoner-of-war status, he may only be tried by a court-martial under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
