A showdown is looming between the Bush administration and the federal court system over the military's role in prosecuting and trying terrorism suspects detained at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. A judge with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Thursday will consider whether to delay the military tribunal of a key suspect in the war on terror - the former driver of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
Attorneys for Salim Hamdan asked U.S. District Judge James Robertson last week for the delay so they may use a landmark Supreme Court decision to challenge the legality of the military tribunal system. Mr. Hamdan, whose military trial is scheduled to begin Monday, would be the first Guantanamo detainee to face a tribunal as an enemy combatant. The Justice Department said in a court filing Monday that the military tribunal should proceed and that federal courts do not have the authority to delay it.