WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 - The Supreme Court late Wednesday granted the Bush administration's request to transfer the terrorism suspect Jose Padilla from military to civilian custody, ending an odd two-week standoff over where he should be held while the justices decide whether to hear his case.

The court's order means that Mr. Padilla will be held in a federal prison in Miami rather than a Navy brig in Charleston, S.C., while he waits to learn whether the justices will take up his appeal of a decision that upheld, in sweeping terms, the government's authority to keep citizens it designates enemy combatants in open-ended military confinement.

While the immediate practical effect was minimal, and the court did not suggest how it might ultimately act in Mr. Padilla's case, the action was something of a victory for the administration after an embarrassing rebuff by a usually friendly federal appeals court that had refused to permit Mr. Padilla's transfer.

The Supreme Court's unsigned one-page order reviewed the recent convoluted history of the case and concluded by noting only that the court would consider Mr. Padilla's pending petition "in due course."

That petition, seeking review of a federal appeals court decision that upheld the government's authority to keep Mr. Padilla in open-ended military detention as an enemy combatant, is scheduled to go before the justices at their closed-door conference on Jan. 13.

The administration is arguing that his appeal has been rendered moot by the government's decision to try him on terrorism charges in the Federal District Court in Miami, where he was indicted by a grand jury on Nov. 17.

(More ...Justices Let U.S. Transfer Padilla to Civilian Custody - New York Times

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