What position will Obama’s DOJ take on Marri?

The Supreme Court has agreed to review the case of Ali al-Marri, who has been held in military detention as an enemy combatant for five years. Marri was legally in the U.S. when he was detained, and wasn’t designated a combatant until he was about to face trial on unrelated charges. At issue is the president’s authority to keep him in military detention indefinitely without filing charges. The NYT’s Adam Liptak lays out the options for Obama’s justice department:

The case, which will probably be argued in the spring, will present the Obama administration with several difficult strategic choices. It can continue to defend the Bush administration’s expansive interpretation of executive power, advance a more modest one or short-circuit the case by moving it to the criminal justice system.

Obama’s decision would have been an easy prediction if one were asked to make it the day after the election. I would have bet Obama would take the last option. Now that the more nuanced Obama has reversed course, or at least backtracked, on several national security issues, it’s not that easy to call.

Maybe Ace can start a pool. Though the pictures accompanying the post announcing the pool certainly couldn’t live up to the standards of their weekly pool post.