Court rules US may detain its citizens without charges

[SR-25]

Judge who wrote the decision is being considered for nomination to the Supreme Court
By RICHARD A. SERRANO
Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON - A federal appeals court ruled Friday that Jose Padilla, held for more than three years after federal officials said he planned to set off radiological devices or "dirty bombs," can be detained indefinitely without trial.

The unanimous decision by a panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., significantly boosts the Bush administration's program of jailing key al-Qaida and Taliban suspects around the world without filing criminal charges or holding trials, whether the detainees are Americans arrested in the United States or foreigners seized abroad.

The ruling could have major implications for detainees at the U.S. Navy base on Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, many of whom have been deemed "enemy combatants."

Judge Michael Luttig wrote the decision for a three-member appellate court panel. He is considered to be on President Bush's short list of candidates for a vacancy on the Supreme Court.

Padilla's attorneys plan to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court. If they do not prevail, Friday's ruling apparently would seal Bush's controversial use of executive authority to skirt the U.S. courts.

At the heart of the White House argument to permanently detain a half-dozen terrorism figures was the fear that they could be acquitted at trial.

But by invoking the Authorization for Use of Military Force Joint Resolution, which Congress enacted after the Sept. 11 attacks, the president can indefinitely detain suspected terrorists "in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States," the appeals court said.

Equally important, administration officials said, was the need to interrogate suspects to learn about potential attacks.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales indicated Friday that in Padilla's case, the continuing incarceration had paid off in new U.S. intelligence about terrorist activities.

"Multiple intelligence sources separately confirmed Padilla's involvement in planning future terrorist attacks against the United States with al-Qaida leaders," he said.

Despite the government's heightened concern about keeping Padilla locked up, his chief attorney, Donna Newman of New York, said she never sought his automatic release from a Navy brig in Charleston, S.C. Rather, she said, she wanted the government to put him on trial.

"They're not giving him a chance to fight this," she said.

"They're telling him he's going to be held forever, that he has no rights. What they're saying is worse than a life sentence."

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/3347248