Federal judges are showing their increasing willingness to balk at the Adminstrations' war on terror:

For many months after Sept. 11, 2001, the scales of justice consistently tipped in favor of the Bush administration's approach to fighting terrorism and detaining suspects deemed threats to national security.

Now, some civil rights groups and legal experts point to signs of a judicial backlash as cases inch closer to the U.S. Supreme Court. "The real change is that appellate courts are saying, `Wait a second, you can't do that,' " said Jim Ross , senior legal adviser for Human Rights Watch. "Historically," he said, "the further you get away from the notion that the nation is in immediate, imminent danger, the more courts have been inclined to step back and reassess."

The article recaps the recent 2nd Circuit decision on Jose Padilla and the 9th Circuit opinion on the Guantanamo detainees. [link via How Appealing.}