Habeas Update

A Federal Judge in DC has decided that the Detainee habeas petitions will take precedent in the wake of the Boumediene v. Bush decision granting Gitmo detainees the right to petition federal courts. I'm pretty sure that the urgency stems partially from the fact that the Military is still going forward with the Military Review Board hearings ... and at least one detainee (Hamdan) is trying to get his habeas petition going before the Military tries him. Since we're in unchartered territory there is sort of a jurisdictional race going on. Therefore:

The government has got to get across the message that we are going to move
these cases forward, and not in the normal course of business; this is an
extraordinary situation…The government has to set aside every other case pending
before them and get these cases moving first….People in all levels of government
should understand that.”