What The Uighurs Decision Means

The White House was expecting today's decision and, in a way, welcomes it, because it gives that branch maximal authority to decide what to do with Guantanamo detainees, preventing federal judges from unilaterally ordering the release of a detainee into the country. As I understand the reasoning, the 17 detainees in question don't possess habeus corpus right simply because the previous administration incorrectly or injudiciously deemed them to be "enemy combatants." Judge A. Raymond Randolph asks "what law authorized the district court to order the government to bring petitioners to the United States and release them here?"

Why is the Obama administration OK with this outcome? Because they want flexibility, even if it means that, in the end, federal judges will have more authority than they currently do.