Ethics

The Downside of Al-Marri Charges

By Ed Brayton

Here's the flipside to the Obama DOJ deciding to charge Al-Marri in a civilian court. The administration is also asking the Supreme Court to dismiss the civil case challenging his indefinite detention on grounds of mootness.

On Friday, the Obama administration moved to dismiss the case, arguing that al-Marri's transfer from military to civilian custody rendered it moot. The transfer order (.pdf) says al-Marri will be moved "as expeditiously as possible" from the custody of the military to the custody of the attorney general.

In the motion (.pdf) to dismiss, acting Solictor General Edwin Kneedler said al-Marri's transfer, and the president's order declaring that he may no longer be detained by the military, provided the relief sought in al-Marri's original habeas petition. Kneedler also noted that Obama's change in policy means there is no longer any reasonable expectation that "the [alleged] wrong will be repeated."

"The court's resolution of the question presented to it ... would be no more than an abstract pronouncement on a set of facts that no longer applies to the petitioner," Kneedler wrote.

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on March 06, 2009 (boomark / email).