Appeals Court Upholds Treating U.S. Citizens as 'Enemy Combatants'

A decision by the 4th Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the federal government's right to hold an American citizen in custody indefinitely a so-called 'enemy combatant' without bringing criminal charges against him.

The case was brought by attorneys for Jose Padilla, am American citizen who has been held in a brig in a naval brig for more than three years without charge after being arrested on American soil.

The government has alleged that Padilla had trained at al-Qaeda terrorist camps and had plans to blow up buildings in the United States. To date, Padilla has not been charged with any specific crime.

Padilla's attorneys and civil rights advocates said the detention was illegal and could easily lead to abuses by the government who could then arrest almost anybody for protesting against government policy or even taking out the 'wrong' books from the public library.

The decision, written by Judge J. Michael Luttig, reads in part, that just after September 11, Congress had 'provided the President all powers necessary and appropriate to protect American citizens from terrorist attacks by those who attacked the United States on September 11. Those powers include the power to detain identified and committed enemies such as Padilla, who associated with al-Qaeda and the Taliban regime, who took up arms against this Nation in its war against these enemies, and who entered the United States for the avowed purpose of further prosecuting that war by attacking American citizens.'

Judge Luttig has been rumored to be under consideration to fill a vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court by Mr. Bush.

Padilla's lawyers now have the option of appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court.