Ethics

Will Bush Evade Scrutiny in Al-Marri Case?

By Ed Brayton

Daphne Eviatar, the legal reporter for the Washington Independent, notes that while the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the Al-Marri case on indefinite detention, the Bush administration may evade that case the same way they did the Padilla case, by transferring Al-Marri to a regular prison and charging him:

By now you've probably heard that the Supreme Court has decided to hear the case of the sole legal U.S. resident detained indefinitely -- yes, that means potentially forever -- without charges, right here on U.S. soil. All because President Bush decided on his own authority, that this 28-year-old father of five, who was then living quietly in Peoria, Ill., was a dangerous associate of Al Qaeda. No proof required, and none has been offered in any court of law.

As Matthew DeLong noted earlier, the Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri's appeal, which questions whether the president really has the authority to hold U.S. residents indefinitely without charge. Al-Marri has been detained, mostly in solitary confinement, at a Navy brig in South Carolina since June 2003.

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on December 11, 2008 (boomark / email).