It now appears as though the much-anticipated case al-Marri v. Spagone (08-368) won’t be heard by the Supreme Court. al-Marri has gotten a taste of some change he can believe in, courtesy of the Obama administration.

The United States Circuit Court for the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled en banc last June that his indefinite detention as an enemy combatant was technically permissible, but that his incarceration in particular was without due process since the government’s allegations were never proven in Court. The Supreme Court granted certiorari on December 5th, and the case remains on the schedule for the afternoon session on April 27th.

But that will probably all change. Attorney General Eric Holder has just announced that a grand jury has indicted al-Marri for “providing material support to al-Qaeda and conspiring with others to provide material support to al-Qaeda.” This is just the sort of thing that distinguishes Holder from Attorneys General past: just as I expected, he has proven that he intends to restore integrity and transparency to the DOJ.

The indictment, which was unsealed on Friday after being delivered the day before, was accompanied by an announcement from Holder that the Solicitor General would begin taking steps to dismiss the pending charges before the Supreme Court.