[JURIST] Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith [official profile] confirmed on Friday that Australia is considering the Obama administration's request that Australia accept six of the Uighur Guantanamo detainees [JURIST news archive] who have already been cleared for release. Smith said that each case will be considered using the same guidelines that were used to consider the prior petition [JURIST report], congruent with Australian national interests and immigration rules. The opposition leadership in the Australian Parliament has spoken out against accepting [Sydney Morning Herald report] the Uighurs, citing the danger of released detainees renewing terrorist ties.

This is the US government's third request that Australia accept detainees, with two prior requests by the Bush administration being rejected. China continues to pressure the US to repatriate the Uighurs, who have been linked with the East Turkestan Islamic Movement [CFR backgrounder] separatist group. Also on Friday, the US government urged [JURIST report] the US Supreme Court to reject a petition for certiorari filed by 14 Uighur detainees appealing a lower court decision upholding the constitutionality of their continued detention. The US continues to actively petition [JURIST news archive] other countries to accept some of the Guantanamo detainees.

[JURIST] US President Barack Obama [official website] rebuked [text; video] Republicans who would oppose his nomination of Sonia Sotomayor [WH profile; LOC materials] for the US Supreme Court [official website] Saturday in his weekly address. The president predicted failure for "those in Washington who are attempting to draw old battle lines and playing the usual political games, pulling a few comments out of context to paint a distorted picture of Judge Sotomayor's record." Praising Sotomayor's experience and wisdom, Obama said:

Even as she has reached the heights of her profession, she has never forgotten where she began. She has faced down barriers, overcome difficult odds, and lived the American dream. As a Justice of the Supreme Court, she will bring not only the experience acquired over the course of a brilliant legal career, but the wisdom accumulated over the course of an extraordinary journey – a journey defined by hard work, fierce intelligence, and the enduring faith that, in America, all things are possible.

[JURIST] The Obama administration urged the US Supreme Court [official website] Friday to reject a petition for certiorari [text, PDF; JURIST report] filed by 14 Chinese Uighur Muslims held at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archives] seeking their release. Taking the same stance as the Bush administration, the Obama administration argued in its reply brief [text, PDF] that although the Court has the power to order the release of detainees, it cannot order them released into the US. The Uighurs are no longer imprisoned, but they cannot leave Guantanamo Bay until the government finds a country willing to accept them. The government argues:

Petitioners’ continued presence at Guantanamo Bay is not unlawful detention, but rather the consequence of their lawful exclusion from the United States, under the constitutional exercise of authority by the political Branches, coupled with the unavailability of another country willing to accept them.