Powerline:

The Wall Street Journal reports that the Obama administration is considering plans to detain some terror suspects on U.S. soil indefinitely and without trial. The source of the report appears to be Lindsey Graham.

Based on talks with Obama administration lawyers, Graham says that one the proposals being studied is to seek authority for indefinite detentions, with the imprimatur of some type of national-security court. This approach would dovetail with the testimony of Defense Secretary Gates last month that there are “50 to 100 [detainees] probably in that ballpark who we cannot release and cannot trust, either in Article 3 [civilian] courts or military commissions.” But Graham apparently is skeptical about legality of the approach the Obama administration is contemplating. He wonders: “How do you hold someone in prison without a trial indefinitely?”

Weekly Standard:

He wouldn’t leave the decision up to the courts, as Andy McCarthy pointed out again this morning at NRO:

Why is the president continuing to pretend that this is a judicial call, concerning which he is just a bystander?

Apparently, the “delay” is to be accomplished by having the Justice Department do what it patently should have done two months ago: appeal the Second Circuit’s disclosure ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. That’s all well and good, but to prevent the photos from being used by our enemies, Obama doesn’t need to rely on that iffy route. He has it within his power, and has had it within his power at all times since January 20, to issue an executive order determining that the release of the photos would harm U.S. national security and contravene U.S. foreign-policy objectives.

The New York Times reports that other legal experts agree that an executive order is the easiest route to block the release of these photos. Well, at least that’s the easiest legal option, perhaps not the easiest political one, as McCarthy writes:

Could it be that [Obama] wants to be able to vote “present”? Is it that, no matter how this comes out, he wants to be able to tell both the antiwar Left and Americans concerned about national security that he tried to look out for them but, alas, it was the court’s call? I suspect that’s the case, and, if I’m right, that’s foolish on Obama’s part. Presidents don’t get to hide that way. This is his call. He should make it.

John McCormack at Weekly Standard:

John Kerry has said that the release of photos, demanded by the ACLU, that show alleged abuse of detainees will be used as a “propaganda tool” by terrorists, but the Obama administration is “not releasing [the photos] because they want to, but because there was a FOIA request and a judge is ordering them released”.

While the photos would certainly be used as terrorist propaganda, the notion that Obama is being forced to release these photos isn’t quite accurate. In a letter to President Obama, Senators Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman write: “We urge you in the strongest possible terms to fight the release of these old pictures of detainees in the war on terror, including appealing the decision of the Second Circuit in the ACLU lawsuit to the Supreme Court and pursuing all legal options to prevent the public disclosure of these pictures.”

In addition to appealing the case to the Supreme Court, Obama can stop the release of other photos by reversing a Department of Defense decision.