The Guantanamo Litigation and the D.C. Courts

One of the more under-reported stories arising out of the post-Boumediene Guantanamo litigation has been the quiet but very real disagreements between the judges of the D.C. district court and different panels of the D.C. Circuit on virtually every question that matters, including the fundamental propriety of the entire post-Boumediene project. And although I posted last week on the immediate significance of the D.C. Circuit's decision not to go en banc to rehear the three-judge panel decision in Al-Bihani, I have put together some more extended thoughts on how that plays into the broader tension between the trial and appellate courts in a guest post for ACSblog up as of this afternoon. In particular, as you'll see, the post suggests that the real winner in last week's drama may in fact be the district court.