Supreme Court to Hear Challenge to Military Tribunals

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 10:20 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court agreed Monday to consider a challenge to the Bush administration's military tribunals for foreign terror suspects, a major test of the government's wartime powers and a case presenting the first conflict for new Chief Justice John Roberts.

Justices will decide whether Osama bin Laden's driver can be tried for war crimes before military officers in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Roberts, as an appeals court judge, joined a summer ruling against Salim Ahmed Hamdan.

He did not participate in Monday's action, which put him in the difficult situation of sitting in judgment of one of his own rulings. Lawyers for Hamdan were expected to ask Roberts to participate in the case, to avoid a 4-4 tie.