Central to his dissent is that in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, the Court had said the president could ask Congress to create military tribunals if he thought them necessary. In what Scalia called a “bait and switch,” Congress did exactly what the Court required, and when the Court struck it down as unconstitutional, Scalia quipped, “Turns out they were just kidding.”

The dissent’s critical point was that habeas does not apply to noncitizens in Cuba, therefore suspending it at Gitmo is unnecessary.

The Wall Street Journal correctly observed that this is the first time in American history that the Supreme Court, which is ill-suited to conduct military matters, interfered not only in the president’s prosecution of a war, but also overrode Congress’ policy judgments.

Justice Scalia ominously concluded, “The Nation will live to regret what the Court has done today.”

We agree.

Kenneth A. Klukowski is a D.C. area consultant and published writer on constitutional issues.