The chief judge at the Guantanamo Bay war crimes court Thursday rejected President Obama’s request to halt the prosecution of terrorism suspects. Obama had made a request rather than an order. The judge does have a lot of jurisdiction here, but I can’t imagine it holding up if Obama really pushed for Gitmo tribunals. I don’t really see the judges rejection of a request like this from the commander in chief as defensible. This could get interesting. There is a full and well written report on the issue over at the LA. times.
Update: Now, many years later, it seems Gitmo was just too big a mess to be cleaned up. Its detainees, once put into the legal limbo that the facility afforded by design, became more easily left there or dealt with slowly on an individual basis. Obama had four years of full control in which he could deal with things like this if there was honestly a will to do so.