Supreme Court agrees to hear Hamdi case: FoxNews so reports. It’s the second war on terrorism case that the Court will have heard — the first involves the Guantanamo detentions — and is a tremendously important issue: Under what conditions may the government militarily detain U.S. citizens, and what role should civilian courts have in reviewing this?

UPDATE: I originally erroneously said “U.S. citizens detained in the U.S.,” but of course that’s the Padilla case, not this case. Don’t know why the wires got crossed in my head. Thanks to Howard Bashman and Don Potts for the correction.

FURTHER UPDATE: Here are the “Questions Presented” from the petition; note that (1) they’re crafted by Hamdi’s lawyers, and are thus somewhat argumentative, and (2) the Supreme Court is not obligated to reach all of them:

(1) Does the Constitution permit Executive officials to detain an American citizen indefinitely in military custody in the United States, hold him essentially incommunicado and deny him access to counsel, with no opportunity to question the factual basis for his detention before any impartial tribunal, on the sole ground that he was seized abroad in a theater of the War on Terrorism and declared by the Executive to be an “enemy combatant”?

(2) Is the indefinite detention of an American citizen seized abroad but held in the United States solely on the assertion of Executive officials that he is an “enemy combatant” permissible under applicable congressional statutes and treaty provisions?

(3) In a habeas corpus proceeding challenging the indefinite detention of an American citizen seized abroad, detained in the United States, and declared by Executive officials to be an “enemy combatant,” does the separation of powers doctrine preclude a federal court from following ordinary statutory procedures and conducting an inquiry into the factual basis for the Executive branch?s asserted justification for the detention?