The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday over the objections of the Obama administration to hear a new appeal from Guantanamo Bay prisoners and decide whether a judge has the power to order the release of a detainee who is not a dangerous 'enemy combatant.' A ruling on this issue could complicate the administration's already troubled plans for closing the Guantanamo prison. Until now, the government and some lower courts have maintained that a judge cannot force the release of a Guantanamo prisoner, even one who has won his legal appeal in a court hearing. At issue now is whether it is a judge or the president who has the power to decide the fate of a foreigner who was held as a military prisoner. In addition, the court agreed Tuesday to decide whether, if a judge does have that power, he or she could order such a person released in the U.S. or whether, as the Obama administration maintains, that it is an immigration issue under the purview of the government. Last year, the high court said in a 5-4 ruling that the Guantanamo prisoners had a constitutional right to seek their freedom before a judge. By filing a writ of habeas corpus, they can ask a judge to decide whether the government has grounds for holding them as enemy combatants. But the justices stopped short of saying the judge also had the authority to order the release of an inmate who was not an enemy combatant. The Bush administration and now the Obama administration balked at releasing into the U.S. several Uighurs, Muslims mainly from a region in northeastern China, who had been held at Guantanamo. Since taking office early this year, the Obama administration has sought to find countries that will take these prisoners, but it has also maintained the view that the executive branch, not the judiciary, has the ultimate power in deciding how and when to release them. The Supreme Court has now agreed to hear a challenge to this view brought on behalf of several Uighurs who were taken prisoner in Afghanistan. Several trial judges have ruled that they are being wrongly held, but a U.S. appeals court has blocked their release. U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan had urged the court to steer clear of the Uighurs' case while the administration seeks foreign countries that will take them. In a recent letter, she said only one of the Uighurs has not been resettled. But the justices may well be interested in resolving the broader question of a judge's power to order the release of a wrongly held prisoner. The court will hear the case of Kiyemba v. U.S. early next year. 