The case shows how hard it will be for the Obama team to clean up the mess left by the previous administration. Last fall, while the State Department tried to persuade other countries to accept the Uighurs, the Justice Department filed briefs in federal court saying they were too dangerous to be released into the United States.

This was yet another example of the Bush administration’s Justice Department failing to consider the advice of lawyers in the State Department and the uniformed military in setting interrogation and detention policies. Of course, it also refused to acknowledge the role of Congress and the courts in setting and reviewing policy.