Human Rights First today filed an amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) brief in the Supreme Court urging the Court to accept for review Mr. Padilla’s appeal from a sweeping September 9, 2005 decision of the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. The lower court ruled that the Executive had the power to arrest and detain indefinitely and without trial U.S. citizens within the United States on the basis of a Presidential determination that the individual is an “enemy combatant.”
“As long as the Executive claims the authority to detain U.S. citizens picked up any time, anywhere, without providing access to courts and normal constitutional protections, the Supreme Court has a role in checking that authority,” said Deborah Pearlstein, Director of Human Rights First’s U.S. Law & Security Program.
U.S. citizen Jose Padilla has been in virtual solitary confinement, without charge, in a South Carolina Naval brig since June 2002, when the military officials seized him from his jail cell in Illinois. After fighting to deny Mr. Padilla any of the protections of the criminal justice system for more than three and a half years, the Government shifted tracks and indicted Mr. Padilla on November 17, 2005, charging him with conspiracy to commit terrorist acts outside the United States and other charges – all unrelated to the “dirty bomb” allegations announced in the media in 2002.
While insisting that Mr. Padilla is “still an enemy combatant according to the President,” and the power to hold him whether or not he is found guilty of any crime, the Government now argues that the Supreme Court should decline review of Mr. Padilla’s challenge to his indefinite detention.
Human Rights First brief rejects the Government’s argument that the case is now moot. “The law is clear: the Government cannot simply engage in unlawful conduct and then avoid court review with a ‘trust us’ promise to stop,” Pearlstein stated.
The Supreme Court is expected to decide whether to take up Mr. Padilla’s case some time early next year. Human Rights First’s brief was prepared by the law firm Jones Day.
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Kirsten Powers, (212) 845-5260
