One last point I would like to makes is with regards to Scali's warning ..."The nation will live to regret what the court has done today," .

Too bad Mr. Scalia doesn't realize a majority of American ARE living in regret this very day because he, Alito, Thomas and Robert have life-long tenure on the Court.

I'm not getting my hopes up to high that the US is returning back to a nation of laws.

Re MOI

It is really quite simple: The Gitmo inmates are:

- PoWs, in which case they have Geneva convention protections and are NOT criminals;
- Criminals, in which case they are entitled to a trial in front of a proper court.

It is the Bush regime's efforts to create a third category outside of both international law (which is defined as the laws of war and peace accepted by civilised peoples) and US constitutional law that has destroyed the Bush regime's standing abroad and at home.

Oh Happy day! Once again I can hold my head up with pride, no longer ashamed to admit I am an American. It is a sad comment on our nation that it has taken so many years, but in the end Justice has prevailed, a message to the world that when it finally comes down to it the American system will not condone injustice forever!

For these many years the world has viewed us as being as bad or worse than the terrorists we were fighting, but now we can say No, at it's heart our system is a good system and our people a good people. Yes, we have become complacent in our prosperity, and allowed evil forces that condone torture, secret trials, endless detention without charges, convictions where no one is allowed to review the evidence, not even the person charged- yes, evil people have illegally seized control of the government, stealing elections, winning through judicial fiat, but our system of checks and balances has triumphed in the end, and justice will be served.

Now that justice is finally being granted to the detainees, perhaps we can hope that some day justice will also be granted to the treasonous ones who have attempted to usurp our government and subvert our Constitution.

While it is a relief to see that the George W regime has failed to totally trash the US Constitution (though not for lack of trying), it is still distressing that the usual Gang of Four on the Supreme Court were willing to hand the Executive that authority and those powers that the Founders rebelled against when George III arrogated them to himself. While George W will surely find an opportunity to issue a signing statement allowing him to ignore the Supreme Court, his time is running out.

the nation will live to deeply regret that scalia thomas alito and roberts were ever allowed on the court and given the opportunity to gravely distort the well being of the american people.

I have nothing more to add to the comments below...just wanted to say, I'm happy that there are still some decent people left in America, the land i love indeed. There is still hope for this country!

Thank you!

At what precise time were prisoners of war EVER accorded habeas corpus rights and access to the court system?

When they were accused of crimes. Next question?

Now that Habeas has been restored we can finally stop wearing our
RESTORE HABEAS CORPUS T'shirts. Now I look forward to the day when we can stop wearing our TORTURE IS UN-AMERICAN T'shirts.

For any Hillary supporter who isn't on board with Obama yet I would encourage you to read the dissents in this opinion. Do you really want a President McCain to have the opportunity to add another Scalia, Thomas, Alito or Roberts to the Court?