[Articles] Bush no power to detain bomb suspect

Victor

Well it looks like someone is willing to stand up to Bush.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2003/1218/padilla.html

Bush no power to detain bomb suspect

December 18, 2003

(19:49) The US president, George W Bush, has been told by a US court that he does not have the power to detain an American citizen seized on US soil as an 'enemy combatant'.

The federal appeals court ruled that 'dirty bomb' suspect Jose Padilla should be released from military custody into civilian detention.

The development is being seen as a blow to the president's war on terror

http://www.breakingnews.ie/2003/12/18/story126295.html

Court overrules Bush on 'enemy combatants' at home
18/12/2003 - 4:46:13 pm

President George Bush does not have power to detain an American citizen seized on US soil as an enemy combatant, an appeals court ruled today.

The decision could force Jose Padilla, held in a so-called ”dirty bomb” plot, to be tried in civilian courts.

In a 2-1 ruling, a three-judge panel sitting in New York, said Padilla’s detention was not authorised by Congress and that Bush could not designate him as an enemy combatant without the authorisation.

Padilla is accused of plotting to detonate a “dirty bomb,” which uses conventional explosives to disperse radioactive materials.

The former Chicago gang member was arrested in May 2002 and within days was moved to a naval prison in South Carolina.

“As this court sits only a short distance from where the World Trade Centre stood, we are as keenly aware as anyone of the threat al-Qaida poses to our country and of the responsibilities the president and law enforcement officials bear for protecting the nation,” the court said.

“But presidential authority does not exist in a vacuum, and this case involves not whether those responsibilities should be aggressively pursued, but whether the president is obligated, in the circumstances presented here, to share them with Congress,” it added.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/2003/12/18/story126324.html

Guantanamo prisoners should have lawyers - US Court
18/12/2003 - 8:19:43 pm

An appeal court in San Francisco ruled today that prisoners held at the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, should have access to lawyers and the American court system.

The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals’ 2-1 decision was a rebuke to the Bush administration.

The US government maintains that because the 660 men held there were picked up overseas on suspicion of terrorism and are being held on foreign land, they may be detained indefinitely without charges or trial.

earwicker

This is very encouraging indeed. It sounds like sense might be gaining ground.

Anyone aware of how these judges lean politically? I'm concerned about the potential for this to be seen reductively as a partisan political decision, when in fact it is simply a good call.