For the roughly 680 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, life is both a hell of mistreatment and a legal purgatory that keeps them from challenging their detention. Because of two recent decisions, though, the Bush administration's illegal policies of detaining people indefinitely and denying them basic human rights have inched closer to their demise.

But the judiciary still has its limits; now it's Congress's turn to replace the 2006 law that allows the president unlimited authority in his war on terror and, more importantly, end the disgrace that is Guantanamo Bay.

The first of the two decisions was passed down two weeks ago by two military judges, who ruled that only prisoners labeled as "unlawful enemy combatants" can be tried by the military commissions created by the Military Commissions Act of 2006. More specifically, the justices dismissed the war crimes charges against two Guantanamo prisoners because the Pentagon could only prove that they were "enemy combatants." One of these prisoners was Salim Ahmed Hamdan, Osama Bin Laden's chauffeur and the plaintiff in the 2006 Supreme Court case Hamdan v. Rumsfeld which struck down Bush's military courts.

The other decision came last Monday, when the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, who was a foreigner legally staying in America, had the right to be tried in a civilian court. Like many other Guantanamo prisoners, al-Marri was sent to the detention camp on suspicions that he was a "sleeper agent" for Al Qaeda. Monday's decision doesn't mean that al-Marri is innocent, but rather that Bush cannot take away his right to a timely trial because al-Marri was legally in America.

Together, these two decisions represent another string of defeats in the Bush administration's invisible and unlawful war. While the Geneva Conventions detail the appropriate treatment of prisoners of war from states, there is no such precedent for the treatment of stateless prisoners. In response, the Bush administration combined military rules with civilian judicial process - conveniently selecting the methods of prosecution best suited for expedient conviction or prolonged imprisonment.

Meanwhile, Congress disregarded its duty to check the executive branch by approving the Military Commissions Act in 2006, failing to pass an amendment to give Guantanamo prisoners the right to habeas corpus. Instead of checking the authority of the president, the law codified the president's previous policies of torture and imprisonment, transforming Guantanamo Bay into a permanent solution because Congress couldn't come up with a better one.

But a better solution has always existed: close Guantanamo Bay and reaffirm the basic human right to a fair and timely trial in a civilian court for everyone, regardless of combatant status. The judicial branch has been getting closer to this solution, but it is limited by the absence of a Congressional law to interpret.

At the very least, Congress has an obligation to replace the Military Commissions Act of 2006 because it has a constitutional role to check the excesses of the president. But more importantly, Congress should be reaffirming America's role as a leader in human rights.

Closing Guantanamo will be a great start.