The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case of a US-born man captured during the fighting in Afghanistan and held incommunicado and without charge.
The high court said last night it would consider the appeal of Yaser Esam Hamdi, whom the government has labelled an enemy combatant ineligible for ordinary legal protections and a danger to the United States.
Hamdi's case tests the legal and constitutional rights of US citizens captured in the war on terrorism, and raises wider questions about the balance between security and liberty.
It is the second major terrorism-related case the high court will hear this term.
The court will probably hear the Hamdi case in April, with a ruling expected by July.
The decision to review the case is another in a recent series of legal setbacks for the Bush administration in terrorism cases.
The government had urged the high court to stay out of the Hamdi case, or to shelve it for now pending an appeal in the similar case of another US-born terrorism suspect.
