Supreme Court to Hear Detainees' Appeals

[Khephra]

WASHINGTON -- In the first major challenge to arise from the war, the Supreme Court hears appeals Tuesday involving the Guantanamo Bay prisoners, whom the United States calls "enemy combatants."

More than 600 men from 44 countries pass their days in small cells at a U.S. Navy prison camp in Cuba, far from the scene of a high-stakes court case that will help draw the boundaries for the war on terrorism.

The case asks a basic question about that legal system: Can these foreign-born prisoners, held outside U.S. borders, use U.S. courts to try win their freedom?

In addition to that jurisdictional issue, the court next week takes up two related cases about the rights of American citizens labeled enemy combatants and held under similar restrictions.

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http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-scotus-detainees,0,6563343.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines