Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Setback for the legal jihad: Supreme Court says Muslims cannot sue Ashcroft and Mueller

"The court ruled 5 to 4 that the top officials are not liable for the actions of their subordinates absent evidence that they ordered the allegedly discriminatory activity."

Of course, the idea that detaining Muslims after 9/11 was discriminatory is laughable on its face. "Supreme Court Rules Former Detainee Lawsuit Cannot Proceed," from the Washington Post, May 18 (thanks to Mackie):

The Supreme Court ruled today that former attorney general John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller may not be sued by Arab Muslims who were seized in this country after the 2001 terrorist attacks and allege harsh treatment because of their religion and ethnicity.

The court ruled 5 to 4 that the top officials are not liable for the actions of their subordinates absent evidence that they ordered the allegedly discriminatory activity. The decision followed the court's ideological split between conservatives and liberals, with Justice Anthony M. Kennedy siding with the conservatives and writing the opinion....

The suit against Ashcroft and Mueller was brought by a Pakistani citizen living legally in the country when he was arrested in the months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

Javaid Iqbal was held in solitary confinement in a section of a Brooklyn prison known as Admax-Shu, for "administrative maximum special housing unit," where he said he was subjected to numerous beatings and strip searches. He was convicted of document fraud and deported to Pakistan but cleared of any involvement in terrorism. An Egyptian Muslim who was also part of the suit, Ehad Elmaghraby, settled with the government for $300,000. Similar suits are pending.

Iqbal's case names prison guards, FBI agents, the warden of the prison -- who was the subject of a critical report from the Justice Department inspector general -- up to Ashcroft, who was attorney general at the time of the attack. Iqbal says policies formulated by Ashcroft and Mueller singled him out as a suspect of "high interest" solely because of his nationality and religion....

Incidentally, the 9/11 plotters and attackers singled out the United States as a focus for an attack because of their religion.
Thanks Jihad Watch

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