Constitutional Law

High Court to Consider Administration's Imprisonment of 'Enemy Combatant'

The U.S. Supreme Court said today it would review a case challenging the Bush administration’s claim of indefinitely imprisoning an al Qaeda suspect without charging him with a crime. Ali al-Marri has been held in isolation at a military brig in South Carolina since 2003, when the Bush administration moved him from prison in Illinois, where he was in custody and awaiting trial on criminal charges, and dubbed him an “enemy combatant.” The administration claims al-Marri is part of an al Qaeda cell. Marri’s attorneys assert that the administration does not have the constitutional authority to imprison individuals residing lawfully in the nation without charging them with a crime. A federal appeals court in a divided ruling held that the administration could imprison al-Marri as an enemy combatant.  

Steven R. Shapiro, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing al-Marri, said in a press release, that, “We are hopeful that the Court will reverse the appeals court decision and ensure that people in this country cannot be seized from their homes and imprisoned indefinitely simply because the president says so. This sweeping claim of executive authority violates America’s best traditions and defies fundamental principles of due process that have governed the nation since its founding.”

The Bush administration argues that the law authorizing military force against al Qaeda must include the ability to detainee people it deems are enemy combatants.

Full post as published by ACS Blog on December 05, 2008 (boomark / email).