President Barack Obama has been never been a fan of the military tribunals used for suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. So it is understandable that human rights advocates were surprised when the Obama administration announced May 15 that it would keep the special system designed to prosecute detainees but tweak the law to "restore the commissions as a legitimate forum for prosecution." The move represents a departure from earlier signs that the administration would scrap the controversial Bush administration approach completely, a promise we had rated as In the Works.
 
In 2006, lawmakers passed the Military Commissions Act to authorize the military tribunals after the Supreme Court ruled they violated U.S. and international law. As a senator, Obama voted against the bill. In August 2007, Obama pledged that, as president, he would "reject the Military Commissions Act, and adhere to the Geneva Conventions." The promise played well among liberals and human rights advocates who believe the commissions are unconstitutional. Obama received additional praise from groups like the American Civil Liberties Union just a few months ago when he asked that legal proceedings against detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay be suspended for 120 days while he reviewed the commissions process.
 
So it seemed Obama was ready to add the tribunals to a growing list of Bush-era relics.

Not so fast. Obama announced he would keep the commissions intact, a move that reversed the usual Washington roles: Liberals lobbed criticism at the Democratic president and conservatives praised him.
 
Still, Obama is offering some changes. He wants to prohibit statements taken from detainees who have been subject to cruel, inhuman and degrading interrogation methods from being used as evidence, and he wants to give detainees greater latitude in choosing their attorneys. Detainees who refuse to testify would be given protections and judges would be able to determine the jurisdiction of their own courts under Obama's plan. The use of hearsay — currently permissible in proceedings — would be limited as well.
 
The White House called it a wholesale change in approach. "I'm buying the car, except I'm changing the engine and painting it a different color and calling it a different thing," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs when describing Obama's latest proposal. He added that Obama is not against the concept of military commissions, just that the current system is flawed.
 
Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said Obama was taking the wrong approach by trying to retain the commissions.
 
"As unfortunate as it is to inherit that legacy, to accommodate those policies is essentially to ratify them," Romero said. "President Obama would do well to remember his own infamous words during his presidential campaign: you can't put lipstick on a pig."
 
Duke University law professor Scott Silliman said that while Obama is taking a "step in the right direction" to create a fairer system for trying detainees, it is not a repudiation of the military commissions.

"It is not the courts-martial standard," he said. For example, "Obama's revisions would allow a detainee to choose his own military lawyer." But under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the system used to try U.S. military personnel, "detainees would have the opportunity to employee a civilian lawyer from their own country."

Congress has 60 days to review Obama's proposal, but making the changes requires no legislative action. Nevertheless, Obama says he intends to work with Congress to make additional adjustments.

So after rating this promise In the Works in the early days of Obama's presidency, we now find he is backing away from the promise. He is proposing changes, but he's not scrapping the overall framework. While we're not ready to declare this a Promise Broken because Congress has 60 days to review Obama's proposed changes, it's clear to us that Obama is taking a different approach than he outlined during the campaign. For now, we rate this one as Stalled.