Religions > Atheism > [Judge} Luttig said the administration has risked its “credibility before the courts”
| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"stoney" |
| Date: |
21 Dec 2005 08:22:38 PM |
| Object: |
[Judge} Luttig said the administration has risked its “credibility before the courts” |
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10562970/
Court rejects request to transfer Padilla custody
White House sought to shift terror suspect held by military to
civilian court
NBC News and news services
Updated: 5:45 p.m. ET Dec. 21, 2005
WASHINGTON - In a sharp rebuke, a federal appeals court denied
Wednesday a Bush administration request to transfer terrorism suspect
Jose Padilla from military to civilian law enforcement custody.
The three-judge panel of the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals said bringing criminal charges against Padilla in Florida
after he had been held by the U.S. military for more than three years
as an enemy combatant created the appearance the government may be
attempting to avoid high court review of the controversial case.
The judges also refused the administration’s request to void a
September ruling that gave President Bush wide authority to detain
“enemy combatants” indefinitely without charges on U.S. soil. Wiping
out that ruling would have made it virtually impossible for the
Supreme Court to review the case.
The decision, written by Judge Michael Luttig, questioned why the
administration used one set of facts before the court for 3½ years to
justify holding Padilla without charges but used another set to
convince a grand jury in Florida to indict him last month.
In bringing the original criminal charges against Padilla, the Justice
Department said Padilla had plotted with al-Qaida to set off a
radioactive "dirty bomb" in the United States and schemed to blow up
apartment buildings.
But Padilla was charged last month in Miami with being part of a
terrorism cell that raised money and recruited fighters to wage jihad
outside the United States. The government made no mention of its
previous allegations against him in the latest indictment.
Luttig said the administration has risked its “credibility before the
courts” by appearing to use the indictment of Padilla to thwart an
appeal of the appeals court’s decision that gave the president wide
berth in holding enemy combatants.
A Department of Justice statement said DOJ was "disappointed" in the
court's decision not to allow Padilla's transfer.
"The President’s authority to detain enemy combatants, which the
Fourth Circuit has upheld, should not be viewed as an obstacle to an
exercise of the government’s undoubted authority to prosecute federal
crimes, including those related to terrorism," DOJ added, in the
statement delivered by director of public affairs, Tasua Scolinos.
Padilla's attorney, Donna Newman, said she hopes Wednesday's decision
is the impetus for the Supreme Court to take up Padilla's case and the
enemy combatant issue in general.
Padilla, a former Chicago gang member, was arrested in 2002 at
Chicago’s O’Hare Airport as he returned to the United States from
Afghanistan. Justice and Defense Department officials alleged Padilla
had come home to carry out an al-Qaida-backed plot to blow up
apartment buildings in New York, Washington or Florida.
The ruling came on a day the administration was struggling to get the
anti-terrorism Patriot Act reauthorized, and while it is under fire in
Congress for Bush's secret order allowing domestic eavesdropping.
NBC News, the Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
© 2005 MSNBC.com
--
Contempt of Congress meter reading-offscale.
Hello, theocracy with a fundamentalist US Supreme
Court who will ensure church and state are joined
at the hip like clergy and altar boys.
America 1776-Jan 2001 RIP
"As democracy is perfected, the office of president
represents, more and more closely, the inner soul
of the people. On some great and glorious day the
plain folks of the land will reach their heart's
desire at last and the White House will be adorned
by a downright moron." --- H.L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)
Religion is the original war crime.
-Michelle Malkin (Feb 26, 2005)
.
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