U.S. Military Judge Postpones Hamdan Military Commission Trial

Posted by Mike Rosen-Molina, Jurist Legal News and Research at 10:26 AM on May 19, 2008.

A military judge Friday delayed the military commission trial of Yemeni Guantanamo Bay detainee Salim Ahmed Hamdan until July. On Thursday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rejected a bid by Hamdan to postpone the start of his military commission until the Supreme Court rules in the consolidated cases of Boumediene v. Bush and Al Odah v. United States, where the Court will consider whether Guantanamo detainees should be allowed to challenge their detentions in federal court. With Friday's delay, it is likely that the Supreme Court will decide those cases before Hamdan goes to trial. SCOTUSblog has more.

Hamdan has been in U.S. custody since 2001 when he was captured in Afghanistan and accused of working as Osama Bin Laden's driver. In 2006 he successfully challenged President George W. Bush's military commission system when the Supreme Court ruled that the commission system as initially constituted violated U.S. and international law. Congress subsequently passed the Military Commissions Act of 2006, which established the current military commissions system. Last month, Hamdan announced that he planned to boycott his military commission trial.

Tagged as: supreme court, guantanamo, military commissions act, salim hamdan