Supreme Court avoids dealing with Padilla case

They taught us in law school that the Supreme Court likes to decide cases narrowly, well sometimes. Meaning you don't go out of your way to decide anything more than what's before you. In this case, the argument would be - and was - that Padilla was transfered to the regular criminal court system and thus the issue of whether he could be detained in the military system was moot, since he was no longer in the military system.

Still, it's troubling that the court is leaving this area of law so grey and undecided. The importance of this case and this area of law in post-9/11 America should not deter judicial review, it should invite it so that it can be settled once and for all, lest the ambiguity invite more and more abuses.