Supreme Court agrees to hear case of only ‘enemy combatant’ held in America

The Supreme Court agreed today to hear the case of Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, a Qatari national who is the last person on the American mainland known to be held as an enemy combatant.

By taking the case, the court will “decide whether the president may order that people picked up in the United States be detained indefinitely and without criminal charges.”

The case will be “an early and high-stakes test for the Obama Administration” as “the case will not be argued before March, meaning that President-elect Barack Obama will be in the White House and decisions about al-Marri will be made by him.”

Read more on the al-Marri case here.