Government Rebuffed
Nov 30th, 2005 at 10:42 pm by Susie
This is very interesting:
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, apparently nettled by the Justice Department’s shift in position on terrorism suspect Jose Padilla, refused on Wednesday to order his immediate release from military custody and threatened to cast aside its ruling in the government’s favor in the case.
In a surprise order, responding to a Department motion last week that Padilla’s lawyers had not opposed, the Circuit Court ordered new briefing from both sides on whether it should vacate its Sept. 9 ruling upholding Padilla’s detention as an “enemy combatant.” If the Court were to do that, it would remove a major precedent in favor of presidential power during the war on terrorism.
The Justice Department had hoped to have Padilla’s pending appeal to the Supreme Court declared “moot,” since it has now charged him with criminal offenses and ended his designation as an “enemy combatant.” But it also had been expecting that the Fourth Circuit precedent would not be disturbed. That is no longer a certainty.
