WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court dismissed an appeal today from the seven Chinese Muslim detainees at Guantanamo Bay because they have been offered another place to live.

The justices took the unusual step of scratching a case three weeks before it was going to be argued, citing changed circumstances in the plight of the Chinese Muslims, or Uighurs, who have been held at the U.S. naval base in Cuba for eight years.

The Uighurs had asked the high court to rule that federal judges have the authority to release detainees into the United States when they have no place to go.

Instead, the court sent their case back to the federal appeals court in Washington that previously ruled judges lacked the power to release the Guantanamo detainees inside the United States. The justices said in an unsigned opinion that the lower court should re-examine the case.

The Obama administration asked for dismissal of the appeal, over the objection of the detainees' lawyers. This happened after Switzerland said it would accept two Chinese Muslim brothers, one of whom had been cleared for release but had not received an offer of resettlement.

The other five Uighurs had previously been invited to resettle in the Pacific island nation of Palau and another, unidentified country. It is not clear why they rejected those offers.

"This change in the underlying facts may affect the legal issues presented," the court said.

The Supreme Court typically is reluctant to rule in cases that have not been thoroughly aired in lower courts, and it said this case is no exception.