US Supreme Court -Enemy Combatants Win Right to U.S. Courts
In addition to its decision in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld the US Supreme Court handed down decisions in four other cases Monday. In Rasul v. Bush, the Court held that US courts have jurisdiction to hear challenges brought by foreign-born detainees to contest their captivity and treatment at Guantanamo Bay. In Rumsfeld v. Padilla, the Court avoided a decision on the merits, saying that Padilla's suit improperly named Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld instead of the military officer in charge of the Navy brig where Padilla has been held and therefore the case should have been brought in South Carolina, not New York. Padilla has been detained in South Carolina for about two years and is suspected of plotting with al Qaeda to set off a radioactive "dirty bomb" in the US. [more