"Supreme Court Deals Blow to War on Terror"

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court severely limited the Bush administration's war on terrorism on Monday and allowed cases brought by terror suspects challenging their confinement to proceed in the American legal system.

The surprising moves by the high court came in a series of term-ending decisions that pitted civil liberties concerns against national security arguments and marked a blow to President Bush's assertion of sweeping presidential powers after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

In one ruling the court said the hundreds of foreign terror suspects at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba could turn to American courts to challenge their confinement. In another ruling it said an American held in his nation is entitled to procedural protections to contest his detention.

"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.
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