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The ruling was a victory for Ali al-Marri, a Qatari-American, who has been held "in solitary confinement in a South Carolina navy brig for four years," according to ABC's Pierre Thomas (subscription required). It was not clear what he is suspected of: ABC's Thomas characterized him as "an al-Qaeda sleeper agent who was preparing to launch a second-wave attack after 9/11" whereas CBS' Wyatt Andrews quoted FBI claims that he had been sent to the this country by Osama bin Laden "to disrupt the American financial system through computer hacking."
Whatever al-Marri's mission might or might not have been, detention without trial "would have disastrous consequences for the Constitution," according to the court's ruling, as quoted by ABC's Thomas. ABC's Jan Crawford-Greenburg (no link) called the wording "almost indignant…a sharp rebuke." CBS' Andrews heard the court "bluntly" tell George Bush "he has gone too far." ABC's Thomas called the language "piercing." As for the implications for the inmates at the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, CBS' Andrews said it has "no legal bearing" on them while ABC's Crawford-Greenburg speculated that it "could strengthen their argument" against their incarceration.
Meanwhile the Senate debated whether to register a vote of no confidence in Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, one of the legal architects of Bush's War on Terrorism. Even though 53 members went on the record against Gonzales, "Republicans sought to stop that debate. They succeeded in doing just that," noted NBC's Tim Russert. The vote "will probably strengthen his position," ABC's George Stephanopoulos concluded, even though "it is hard to find anyone in Washington--the President aside--who thinks the Attorney General has done a good job."
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