[JURIST] The Bush administration asked the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit [official site] late Wednesday to expeditiously decide whether Guantanamo detainees can challenge their confinement in court. Two district court judges recently issued conflicting rulings on the question. In a 75-page opinion [PDF], US District Judge Joyce Hens Green [official profile] declined late last month to throw out 54 suits by detainees last month. Earlier, US District Judge Richard Leon [official profile] had handed down a 34-page opinion [PDF] dismissing suits by seven other detainees, saying that "no viable legal theory exists" for a court to order their release. The judges are trying to determine detainee rights in the wake of the Supreme Court decision last summer in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld [LII text], which held that federal courts are open to appeals on behalf of the foreigners. AP has more.