President Obama with Military Officials. (Photo Courtesy of Creative Commons)

President Barack Obama announced Monday that he is restarting military trials at Guantanamo Bay, rescinding his administration's two-year moratorium on trials at the US prison facility in Cuba.

In a statement, Obama said he hopes these actions will, "broaden our ability to bring terrorists to justice, provide oversight for our actions and ensure the humane treatment of detainees." 

The new policy highlights a continued commitment to Article III trials, which means current prisoners would be tried under the constitutional requirements for a fair trial as compared to a military trial, which traditionally favors an accelerated verdict. 

President Obama has previously pushed for more Article III trials as compared to military tribunals, yet Congress, which controls the specific regulations as to how trials are set, has made it tough for the president to push his policy regarding trials of terrorists.

High-profile detainees, such as Al-Qaeda operative Khalid Sheikh Mohammed may still be subject to military trials because of the political difficulty of trying them in a federal court.  In 2009, Mohammed was tried in New York, causing outrage amongst both Republicans and Democrats.

But Obama's announcement today garnered praise from many Republicans on Capitol Hill, saying he has "seen the light" about the issue. 

Edwin Smith, Professor at USC's Gould School of Law, said Obama will continue to push federal court trials, but was confident that the military trials will continue to comply with the Geneva Accord.

"Given the difficulty the President has faced regarding Congress about federal courts, and given the fact that individuals could be released are not being accepted back, the whole process has been much more difficult than expected," Smith said. "This is certainly progress to the issue at hand."

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