NATIONAL BRIEFING

The Obama administration argued that allowing terrorism detainees in Afghanistan to challenge their detention in U.S. courts would endanger the military mission in that country. In a filing with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, the Justice Department said detainees at the Bagram military base should not have equal rights to sue in the U.S. that the Supreme Court granted last year to detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The administration argued that Bagram is in an active war zone and in the sovereign nation of Afghanistan.

The filing was made in response to a ruling in April by U.S. District Judge John Bates, who said foreign detainees at Bagram should be allowed to sue in U.S. civilian courts to challenge their confinement.