New Trial Date Set for February 2015 in Al-Nashiri

This marks the most significant among many dates set by the Second Amended Scheduling Order, in the military commission case of United States v. Al-Nashiri.  The ruling was issued on May 9 (and in response to defense requests), but only recently made its way through Guantanamo's security morass. It remains to be seen whether this revised schedule will stick.  Litigation, both inside and outside of GTMO, could easily shift the timetable around.  (The Scheduling Order effectively postpones an earlier-set date, of December;  the document also acknowledges the possibility of further deviation---and asks counsel seeking changes to make their requests no less than twenty calendar days in advance of this or that milestone.) Which reminds me: adjustment to the Guantanamo calendar draws attention to the timing of Al-Nashiri's parallel civil case.  As y'all know, the detainee has supplemented his habeas petition and challenged the power of the Guantanamo military court to try him in the first place.  The government recently responded, both to Al-Nashiri's supplemental petition and his bid for a preliminary injunction, and essentially asked the court to hold the habeas case in abeyance.  We'll thus see a few more pleadings filed shortly, and then---at some as yet undefined point, I reckon well before next February---a hearing before the habeas court. In the meantime, I wouldn't be surprised to hear the parallel litigation issue get some airtime down at Guantanamo, if only in passing---perhaps during next week's pre-trial hearings.