In a major rebuke of the Bush administration, the Supreme Court has ruled Guantanamo Bay prisoners have the constitutional right to challenge their detention in civilian court. The Military Commissions Act of 2006 had stripped the prisoners of their habeas corpus rights. The five-to-four ruling marked the third time in four years the Supreme Court has ruled against the Bush administration concerning the rights of Guantanamo prisoners. Speaking in Italy, President Bush said he opposed the decision.

President Bush: “First of all, it’s a Supreme Court decision. We’ll abide by the Court’s decision. That doesn’t mean I have to agree with it. It’s a deeply divided court, and I strongly agree with those who dissented and that their dissent was based on serious concerns about US national security.”

The White House has suggested it may turn to Congress to pass legislation to curb the prisoners’ new rights. Jameel Jaffer of the American Civil Liberties Union praised the Supreme Court decision.

Jameel Jaffer: “It is the first time that this court has said clearly that prisoners held at Guantanamo have the right to challenge their detention in court under the Constitution, and that’s important. And it’s especially important because the Bush administration in late 2001 and early 2002 made the decision to hold prisoners at Guantanamo precisely because they thought that they could deny prisoners held there the right to challenge their detention. So this is something — this decision is something that just pulls the rug out of the administration’s central reason for opening up this prison in the first place.”