Supreme Court: U.S. Citizen Can't Be Held in Bush's War on Terror

Separately, the justices dismissed a case involving American terror suspect Jose Padilla on a technicality and sent it back

Bush administration lawyers contend that Padilla, a former Chicago gang member, was an al-Qaida operative who was planning a radiological "dirty bomb" attack in the United States at the time of his arrest two years ago as he returened to the United States from Afghanistan.

The Hamdi ruling did not fully address many hard questions raised by the case. Hamdi has been detained more than two years and only recentrly allowed to see a lawyer. His parents are Saudis and he was born in the United States.

The administration had fought any suggestion that Hamdi or another U.S.-born terrorism suspect, Jose Padilla, could go to court, saying a legal fight was a threat to the president's power to wage war as he sees fit.

"We have no reason to doubt that courts faced with these sensitive matters will pay proper heed both to the matters of national security that might arise in an individual case and to the constitutional limitations safeguarding essential liberties that remain vibrant even in times of security concerns," Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote for the court.

O'Connor said that Hamdi "unquestionably has the right to access to counsel."

The court threw out a lower court ruling that supported the government's position fully, and Hamdi's case now returns to a lower court.

The careful opinion seemed deferential to the White House, but did not give the president everything he wanted.

The government says Hamdi was captured on the battlefield in Afghanistan, where he was fighting alongside Taliban forces against U.S.-led coalition troops.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5316401/

Washington, DC, Jun. 28 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday a federal court in New York does not have jurisdiction over an al-Qaida suspect held in a Navy brig in South Carolina.

The 5-4 decision overturns an appeals court ruling that said Jose Padilla was entitled to access to the U.S. courts.

Because the case was decided on jurisdiction, the Supreme Court majority said, it did not decide on whether Padilla was being held constitutionally as an "enemy combatant" by the military.

Padilla was arrested by the FBI in a Chicago airport in May 2002. The Justice Department said he was returning from Pakistan after conspiring with al-Qaida.

He was first held in New York on a "material witness" warrant, but transferred to South Carolina when President George W. Bush declared him an enemy combatant.

A federal appeals court in New York eventually ruled that the president lacked the authority to hold Padilla militarily. The Supreme Court reversed that ruling based on jurisdiction only.

http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040628-105159-3252r.htm