WASHINGTON, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- The Justice Department asked the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday to reject a challenge to the military commission trials of terror suspects.
The action comes in the case of Salim Ahmed Hamdan, who is accused of being Osama bin Laden's bodyguard and driver from 1996 to 2001, and participating in al-Qaida's international campaign of terrorism against the United States.
A federal judge blocked Hamden's military commission trial at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in part because there had been no determination whether al-Qaida prisoners were protected by the Geneva Convention, which governs prisoners of war, or the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which confers rights on a defendant.
If left in place, the decision would have undermined the trials at Guantanamo.
However, a federal appeals court panel reversed the decision 2-1, and Hamdan's lawyers asked the Supreme Court for review.
President Bush, as commander in chief, has determined that al-Qaida combatants are not protected by the convention, the department said.
The Supreme Court should decide whether to review the case sometime this fall.
