Appeals Court Rules Against Bagram Air Field Prisoners

A group of prisoners being detained indefinitely at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan cannot turn to U.S. courts to argue for their release, as detainees at Guantanamo Bay can, according to a ruling today by a federal appeals court panel in Washington.

The decision is significant because the detainees were trying to extend landmark Supreme Court decisions that allowed prisoners in Guantanamo to challenge their detention in U.S. courts. The Obama Administration had argued that Guantanamo Bay is different, and that U.S. courts do not have jurisdiction over foreign prisoners being detained in a war zone.

The 3-0 decision by conservative Judge David Sentelle was joined by two of the court's most liberal judges, David Tatel and Harry Edwards. They were troubled that allowing prisoners at Bagram to challenge their detention would open up the U.S. court system to any non-citizen being held in any U.S. military facility around the world.

That means that although the detainees will surely take this case to the Supreme Court, they will have a tough time convincing the justices to step in and hear it.