This should hae been obvious on its face: you can't arrest a U.S. citizen in the United States and hold tham as unlawful enemy combatants without charging them or allowing them access to an attorney.
Even the Pentagon has rules regarding "Unlawful Enemy Combatants": to declare a foreign national as one you must have a military tribunal that opperates much like a courts martial detremine this status, although we've ignored this requirement for the people held down at Guantanamo Bay.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on this back in the 1940s when the combatants in question were German military personnel, that were not in uniform, were captured during a sabotage mission on the East Coast. The rules for this have already been laid out.
Evidently the current President, operating in the Imperial fashion conservatives hav always claimed to be against, decided that didn't mean anything and that he got to make up rules as he goes.
The only question now is whether Jose Padllla gets released, gets charged, gets his attorney, or the Bush Administration ignores the ruling like it has in several cases so far. So much for the Rule of Law.
The story
The Fed Appeals Court Rulings
Posted by Chris at December 18, 2003 11:46 AM