US court deals blow to Bush's war on terror

The rulings, the first the court has made on Bush's anti-terrorism policies, marked a defeat for the president's assertion of sweeping powers to indefinitely hold "enemy combatants" after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

In one ruling, the court said the nearly 600 foreign terror suspects held for two years at the US military base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba could turn to American courts to challenge their confinement. In another ruling, it said an American terror suspect held in his nation is entitled to a chance to contest the government's decision.

"Today's historic rulings are a strong repudiation of the administration's argument that its actions in the war on terrorism are beyond the rule of law and unreviewable by American courts," Steven Shapiro of the American Civil Liberties Union said.

A US defence official said the Pentagon would examine the rulings to see how to "modify existing procedures," but he put the best face on the court's action, saying it was "important in that it affirms the president's authority to detain enemy combatants in the global war on terrorism."

By a 6-3 vote, the justices ruled American courts can consider the claims of Guantanamo Bay prisoners -- suspected al-Qaeda members or Taliban fighters -- who said in their lawsuits they were being held illegally in violation of their rights.

"What is presently at stake is only whether the federal courts have jurisdiction to determine the legality of the executive's potentially indefinite detention of individuals who claim to be wholly innocent of wrongdoing," Justice John Paul Stevens wrote for the majority.

The ruling did not address the merits of the claims, and the detainees still could face a long legal battle to win their release or major changes in the conditions of their confinement.