Specifically it re-initiated the captives' habeas corpus petitions.

As Justice White did today, the Court has often referred to the burden that habeas corpus petitions from state prisoners place on the Federal courts.

Last term, Justice Kennedy wrote an important majority opinion restricting the ability of state prisoners to file more than one Federal habeas corpus petition.

The Federal District Court in Houston granted his habeas corpus petition in 1999.

The Powell committee report proposed sharp limits on the ability of state death row inmates to file more than one habeas corpus petition in Federal court.

Under the streamlined procedure, the convict would be limited to only one Federal habeas corpus petition after state proceedings are exhausted.

Federal habeas corpus petitions were restricted by the 1996 counterterrorism law to those cases in which a state court was not only wrong, but unreasonably wrong.

Lamberth has presided over Guantanamo captives habeas corpus petitions.

That is because the Court's recent precedents have essentially limited state inmates to one Federal habeas corpus petition.

It could also be a turning point in the Court's analysis of the documents used by defendants to seek Federal review, habeas corpus petitions.