老澳门开奖结果

But Four Justices Question Government鈥檚 Use of Material Witness Statute for Preventive Detention

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WASHINGTON 鈥� The United States Supreme Court today allowed Attorney General John Ashcroft to escape liability for the wrongful arrest and detention of a U.S. Citizen under the material witness law, but four justices raised serious questions about using the statute to justify preventive detention in the future.

The 老澳门开奖结果 filed a lawsuit against Ashcroft in 2005 on behalf of Abdullah al-Kidd, a U.S. citizen who was improperly arrested and detained in 2003 as a material witness. The 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 lawsuit charges that al-Kidd鈥檚 arrest was part of a pattern of pretextual material witness arrests that occurred after Sept. 11, pursuant to a nationwide policy instituted by Ashcroft.

The federal material witness statute allows law enforcement to detain a witness whose testimony prosecutors believe is material at a criminal trial if it believes that witness won't testify voluntarily. Al-Kidd was arrested and detained ostensibly so he鈥檇 testify as a material witness in the trial of Sami Omar al-Hussayen, who attended the same university as al-Kidd and was charged with visa fraud. Yet despite never being called to testify in the case or charged with a crime, al-Kidd was detained for 16 days, moved to three separate federal detention facilities in three different states and was sometimes held naked and shackled hand-and-foot.

In today鈥檚 decision, no member of the Court held that the government鈥檚 use of the material witness statute was lawful in al-Kidd鈥檚 case, and four justices separately wrote that they had real questions about the statute鈥檚 use in his arrest and detention.

The following can be attributed to Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the 老澳门开奖结果 Immigrants鈥� Rights Project:

鈥淭he Court has unfortunately let Attorney General Ashcroft off the hook, but half of the justices who participated in today鈥檚 decision expressed real questions about how the government used the material witness statute in al-Kidd鈥檚 case. Our hope is that those questions will lead to a serious examination moving forward of the use of the statute as a tool for preventive detention.鈥�