In a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Monday not to hear the case of Jose Padilla, the U.S. citizen suspected of terroristic activities, who also happens to have been detained indefinitely for four years.

He was apprehended on May 8, 2002, at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport after returning from Afghanistan. According to an April 3 Washington Post article, he planned to carry out an assignment for al Qaida.

On June 9, President Bush instructed the Secretary of Defense to declare Padilla an enemy combatant, thus allowing the U.S. to place him in a military detention facility.

Padilla's case was transferred in November 2005 to be indicted in a civilian detention facility, subsequently reversing his status as a military detainee.

Justice Anthony Kennedy's concurring opinion does addresses his altered status and wrote that should his status be changed again, it then perhaps will need to be addressed by the high court.

But until then, according to the opinion, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida will suffice in affording Padilla the appropriate protections of a U.S. citizen facing criminal charges.

Despite the four-month period it took the court to determine this decision, U.S. citizens should start to worry, if they're not worried already, about their fundamental rights.

Does the Supreme Court's decision set a precedent of general disinterest for cases stemming from the Sept. 14, 2001 congressional resolution, which allows people, including Americans, to be detained indefinitely?

Justices Kennedy and John Paul Stevens and Chief Justice John Roberts all agreed this case did not merit a hearing before the court. Perhaps, too, this would have been an opportunity to address many of the concerns regarding Guantanamo Bay and Bush's decree to declare those who look cross-eyed at U.S. enemy combatants.

The U.S. Supreme Court backed down from what was essentially a challenge by the Bush administration when it could have donned the boxing gloves and made a decision.

Perhaps they'll have the opportunity to take on the prizefight when the next case regarding an enemy combatant indefinitely detained comes before them.