The New York Times (and hundreds of others) is reporting that five individuals being held at Guantanamo Bay have been ordered to be released. District Judge Richard J. Leon is overseeing the first challenges brought by individuals who have been held at Guantanamo Bay, and he has ruled that five of the first six who have brought such challenges have been held for seven years without any justification other than intelligence purposes. It should be noted that Judge Leon is a Bush appointee who previously ruled against the detainees the first time their case came around. (The sixth man was deemed to have provided support to al Qaeda.)
Judge Leon ordered the men to be released “forthwith,” and urged the United States not to appeal, but I suspect that an appeal will come. Of course, things could get shaken up quite a bit if Eric Holder is named as Attorney General and he gets confirmed for the post, because he is on record as being very outspoken against the maintenance of Guantanamo Bay. (See this ABC blog for a little more info.)
