the lower court ruling that allowed him to be treated as an enemy combatant in spite of being a legal resident of the US. On December 5, 2008, the Supreme Court agreed to hear al-Marri's case. On January 22, 2009, newly elected President Barack Obama issued a memorandum requiring that al-Marri's status be reviewed by his administration, in addition to those of detainees currently held at Guantanamo Bay detention camp. The New York Times editorials The New York Times outlined the case of Ali al-Marri in an editorial on November 24, 2008, titled "Indefinite Detention". It criticized the George W. Bush administration's enemy combatant doctrine, and called on the Supreme Court justices to make clear that a president cannot trample on individual rights by imprisoning people indefinitely simply by asserting that they are tied to terrorism. In an editorial of December 8, 2008, titled "Tortured Justice", the Times editorial board wrote: The extent of the damage to American liberties, and how lasting it will be, will be told in part by the outcome of two cases [Ali al-Marri's "enemy combatant" and Maher Arar's "extraordinary rendition"] that are to be heard by the federal courts." They said the Obama administration would have to decide "whether to defend the indefensible when the case comes to trial." Court case Following this review, the government transferred Al-Marri's case from military custody to the federal court system and went to trial. In a 2009 plea bargain, al Marri pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to support a terrorist group. He was sentenced to 8 years in prison. The New Yorker, quoting inside sources, reported on February 26, 2009, that al-Marri was to be indicted by Obama's Department of Justice. On February 27, 2009, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that a federal grand jury in the Central District of Illinois had returned a two-count indictment charging Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, 43, with providing material support to al-Qaeda and conspiring with others to provide material support to al-Qaeda. He said that the Office of the Solicitor General would move to dismiss al-Marri's pending litigation before the U.S. Supreme Court, and that al-Marri would be transferred to Department of Justice custody for criminal prosecution as soon as the Supreme Court rules on that motion. On March 6, 2009, the U.S. Supreme court dismissed the application, remanded to the Fourth Circuit, and instructed the Fourth Circuit to dismiss