Federal Court Rules in Favor of 'Enemy Combatant'
By Carol D. Leonnig
Washington Post
A federal appeals court today ruled that the U.S. government cannot indefinitely imprison a U.S. resident on suspicion alone, and ordered the military to either charge Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri with his alleged terrorist crimes in a civilian court or release him.
The opinion is a major blow to the Bush administration's assertion that as the president seeks to combat terrorism, he has exceptionally broad powers to detain without charges both foreign citizens abroad and those living legally in the United States. The government is expected to appeal the 2-1 decision handed down by a three-judge panel of the conservative U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which is in Richmond, Va.
The decision is a victory for civil libertarians and Marri, a citizen of Qatar who was a legal resident of the United States and studying in Peoria, Ill., when he was arrested in December 2001 as a "material witness." He was detained initially in civilian prisons, then transferred to a naval brig in Charleston, S.C. , where he has been confined for the past five years.
The government argued that Marri, who had met with al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, was sent to the United States for a second wave of terrorist attacks.
The appeals panel said President Bush overstretched his authority by declaring Marri an "enemy combatant," because the Constitution protects both U.S. citizens and legal residents such as Marri from an unchecked military and from being detained without charges and a fair trial. The court rejected the administration's claim that it was not relevant that Marri was arrested in the United States and was living here legally on a student visa.
"The President cannot eliminate constitutional protections with the stroke of a pen by proclaiming a civilian, even a criminal civilian, an enemy combatant subject to indefinite military detention," the panel found. "Put simply, the Constitution does not allow the President to order the military to seize civilians residing within the United States and detain them indefinitely without criminal process, and this is so even if he calls them 'enemy combatants.' "
(Continued here.)
Washington Post
A federal appeals court today ruled that the U.S. government cannot indefinitely imprison a U.S. resident on suspicion alone, and ordered the military to either charge Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri with his alleged terrorist crimes in a civilian court or release him.
The opinion is a major blow to the Bush administration's assertion that as the president seeks to combat terrorism, he has exceptionally broad powers to detain without charges both foreign citizens abroad and those living legally in the United States. The government is expected to appeal the 2-1 decision handed down by a three-judge panel of the conservative U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which is in Richmond, Va.
The decision is a victory for civil libertarians and Marri, a citizen of Qatar who was a legal resident of the United States and studying in Peoria, Ill., when he was arrested in December 2001 as a "material witness." He was detained initially in civilian prisons, then transferred to a naval brig in Charleston, S.C. , where he has been confined for the past five years.
The government argued that Marri, who had met with al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, was sent to the United States for a second wave of terrorist attacks.
The appeals panel said President Bush overstretched his authority by declaring Marri an "enemy combatant," because the Constitution protects both U.S. citizens and legal residents such as Marri from an unchecked military and from being detained without charges and a fair trial. The court rejected the administration's claim that it was not relevant that Marri was arrested in the United States and was living here legally on a student visa.
"The President cannot eliminate constitutional protections with the stroke of a pen by proclaiming a civilian, even a criminal civilian, an enemy combatant subject to indefinite military detention," the panel found. "Put simply, the Constitution does not allow the President to order the military to seize civilians residing within the United States and detain them indefinitely without criminal process, and this is so even if he calls them 'enemy combatants.' "
(Continued here.)
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