Federal Court Demands Release of ‘Enemy Combatant’

In a move that sets limits on the Bush administration’s power to detain suspected “enemy combatants” without going through customary channels of the criminal justice system, Judge Diana Gribbon Motz called for the release of Quatari citizen Ali al-Marri, held since his arrest in December 2001.

New York Times:

“We refuse to recognize a claim to power,” Judge Motz added, “that would so alter the constitutional foundations of our Republic.”

The ruling was handed down by a divided three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, in Richmond, Va., in the case of Ali al-Marri, a citizen of Qatar and the only person on the American mainland known to be held as an enemy combatant.

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