Supreme Court Allows Transfer of Padilla to Civilian Court

Mr. Padilla, an American citizen, was held for more than three and a half years as an "enemy combatant," with no charges lodged against him until November. When his indictment was announced, the government made no mention of the "dirty bomb" plot inside the United States. Instead, Mr. Padilla was charged with fighting American forces alongside members of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, in Richmond, Va., refused last month to allow Mr. Padilla to be transferred to civilian custody, declaring that the Bush administration gave the appearance of pushing for the transfer to prevent the Supreme Court from hearing the case and ruling on the government's ability to hold an American citizen like Mr. Padilla outside the civilian criminal justice system. The Justice Department assailed the ruling as an "unwarranted attack" on presidential discretion.
dammit! the president gets to do whatever he wants - that's why you ask your daddy for the presidency for xmas!
The clash between the Fourth Circuit and the administration was remarkable, since the circuit is regarded as perhaps the most conservative of the federal appellate courts and therefore generally an ally of the Bush White House. Indeed, in September, the Fourth Circuit affirmed President Bush's power to hold Mr. Padilla as an enemy combatant.
hmm...perhaps a competition to see which court can be most conservative is in order?
Mr. Padilla and his lawyers might have been expected to applaud the defendant's transfer to civilian custody. But they had asked the Supreme Court to block the transfer, at least for now, asserting that the government was trying to avoid Supreme Court review of the crucial underlying issue: whether the president has the authority to detain him as an enemy combatant.
ya think?