The Supreme Court took no action Tuesday on a controversial appeal asking the justices to keep under wraps classified photographs of War on Terror detainees that have been likened to the infamous pictures at Abu Ghraib prison.

The court's consideration of the case coincides with congressional efforts to pass a law giving the secretary of defense the authority to exempt the photographs from Freedom of Information Act disclosures. A measure to do that passed a joint conference committee of the House and Senate last week.

The justices were scheduled to discuss the matter in their closed-door meeting Friday but may have been persuaded to postpone judgment by the government, which last week sent a letter to the court asking them not to move on the case...