SCOTUS Skeptical Of Bush's Military Court

This from the Kansas City Star (whose people are not bastards)

The Supreme Court gave a skeptical hearing Tuesday to the administration’s claim that the president can create and control special military tribunals to punish foreigners he considers war criminals.

Five of the eight justices hearing the case commented that the laws of war and the Geneva Conventions set basic rules of fairness for trying alleged war criminals. And they questioned whether the president was free to ignore those basic rules — as well as the rules of American military law.

I'll research to try to identify all five justices, but for now I know Breyer was one. And apparently Alito wasn't.

But here's where the KSS story gets good. Alito may have torpedoed Bush's case. Wouldn't that be ironic?

New Justice Samuel Alito said that the Supreme Court should not rule on the issue now. “In a criminal litigation, review after a final decision is the general rule,” he said. If Hamdan is convicted, he could file an appeal in the federal courts, he said.

That idea touched a raw nerve for most of the other justices. They sharply disputed the idea that Congress can bar the Supreme Court — or any federal judge — from hearing a “writ of habeas corpus” from a person held in U.S. custody [emphasis mine].

Jesus, as a boy I knew if I was the new kid in town I had better keep my mouth closed until I learned the lay of the land. What are the chances Alito could bring something to the table the others had overlooked?

Another thing I can't get from the story except by inference is that apparently the SCOTUS has determined it has jurisdiction. The administration contended they did not.