USA: Supreme Court starts proceedings in Hamdan case

On 28 March, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of Salim Ahmed Hamdan. Hamdan is challenging President Bush’s authority to create Military Commissions without clear Congressional authorization. Arguments focused on the impact of the Detainee Treatment Act, adopted in December 2005, which restricted the jurisdiction of federal courts to hear habeas corpus petitions filed by Guantánamo detainees.