On The Front Lines
The Rutherford Institute Files Amicus Brief with U.S. Supreme Court Challenging Indefinite Military Detention of U.S. Resident
Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute, the Constitution Project and the Cato Institute have filed a joint amicus brief with the United States Supreme Court on behalf of U.S. resident Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, a legal U.S. resident who has been detained in solitary confinement at a Navy brig in South Carolina since 2003.
In asking the Court to reject the president's authority to indefinitely imprison a legal resident of the U.S. without charge or trial, the Institute joins the ranks of a broad array of respected military and civilian leaders across the political spectrum who have weighed in before the Court on behalf of al-Marri. The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in al-Marri v. Spagone on April 20.
A copy of the amicus brief is available here.
"As our nation works to confront the challenges of maintaining security in an age of global terrorism, it is especially critical that we remain committed to safeguarding our constitutional rights and preserving the separation of powers," said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. "To this end, it is imperative that we ensure that the President's power--even in wartime--stems either from an act of Congress or from the Constitution itself."
Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, a legal U.S. resident, was arrested at his home in Peoria, Illinois, in December 2001, where he was living with his wife and children. In June 2003, President Bush designated al-Marri an "enemy combatant," at which point the legal resident was transferred to a military brig in South Carolina. At the brig, al-Marri was allegedly detained incommunicado for 16 months and subjected to torture and other abuse. al-Marri continues to be held at the military brig.
In 2007, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled that the government cannot hold individuals arrested in this country in military detention without charge. However, in July 2008, the full appeals court overturned that ruling in a narrowly divided decision.
In filing a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Supreme Court, attorneys for The Rutherford Institute, the Constitution Project and the Cato Institute are challenging the Bush administration's claims of Executive power. Specifically, the brief questions whether the Executive's use of military power inside the United States to detain, without charge or trial, a person who is lawfully in the United States violates the Constitution where Congress has not expressly authorized such detention. Furthermore, Institute attorneys argue that the military detention authority that the Executive claims in this case would permit manipulation of the civilian criminal justice system and would imperil citizens and noncitizens alike.
