"Presidential discretion" should trump a court decision, the White House argues, appealing the Fourth circuit court's rejection of its request to transfer Padilla from military to civilian custody last week. L'etat, c'est moi.

Meantime, Padilla's lawyers "want the Supreme Court to resolve how much power a president has while the nation is at war," the AP reports. "Lawyers Donna Newman and Andrew Patel told the high court in papers filed Tuesday that the justices must step in 'to preserve the vital checks and balances' on the president."

Posted by Laura at December 28, 2005 09:17 PM