Hamdan conviction overturned (Final Update)
Source: Scotus Blog
The D.C. Circuit Court on Tuesday threw out one of the earliest post-9/11 military convictions of a terrorism suspect, putting in doubt the use of the commission system to try war crimes charges for events that occurred years earlier. The ruling by a three-judge panel voided the conviction of Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni national who no longer is held by the U.S. military. He completed his sentence, and was sent home, but the Circuit Court said his case still involved an active controversy.
Hamdan, who often has been described by the U.S. government as a driver for Osama bin Laden, was convicted of the war crime of “material support for terrorism.” The Circuit Court, however, said that was not a crime at the time of the events for which he was prosecuted under a 2006 law – the Military Commissions Act. The panel said it ruled that way in order to avoid a constitutional question of whether the Hamdan trial violated the Constitution’s ban on ex post facto prosecution.
It was not immediately clear how far the ruling would reach for coming or other past prosecutions by military commissions at Guantanamo Bay. The same charge that was leveled against Hamdan — material support — has been made against several other detainees there. In fact, the government has relied heavily upon that kind of charge, on the theory that it would be fairly easy to prove.
Ironically, Congress had passed that law after Hamdan had won an earlier Supreme Court ruling, nullifying President George W. Bush’s creation — by presidential order — of a system of military tribunals for war crimes cases. The charges against him, pursued under the 2006 act of Congress, were based on alleged activities in Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001, when he was captured there.
Read more: http://www.scotusblog.com/2012/10/hamdan-conviction-overturned/
= new reply since forum marked as read
Now we shall hurry up and wait as it makes its way to SCOTUS. I'm certain the Roberts Group ™ will find a work around. 
