Supreme Court to Decide Whether Detainees Can Be Released Into U.S.

The Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether federal judges can order detainees held at Guantanamo Bay to be released onto United States soil. The case concerns 17 Muslim refugees from the Uighur region of western China who were picked up by U.S. forces in late 2001 after fleeing a camp in the mountains of Afghanistan.

The government long ago gave up trying to prove the detainees have connections to al-Qaida or the Taliban, and last year a district court judge ordered them released. The judge said the Uighurs should go free in the U.S. because they face oppression if they are returned to China, where they are seen as terrorists. Earlier this year, a federal court in Washington reversed the ruling, saying judges do not have the power to force the White House to release foreigners into the U.S.

The appeal from the Uighur detainees has been pending since April, according to the New York Times. It's unclear why the justices decided to take up the case now.