Justices Hear 9/11 Detention Case

Evan Perez
Wall Street Journal
March 5, 2011

WASHINGTON—Supreme Court justices appeared skeptical of an attempt to sue former Attorney General John Ashcroft over allegations that he abused federal law by detaining dozens of people in the months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The court heard arguments Wednesday in the case of Abdullah al-Kidd, a U.S. citizen who was detained and subjected to travel restrictions after being deemed a potential witness in a terror investigation. Mr. al-Kidd is suing the U.S. government and federal officials, including Mr. Ashcroft, saying his detention was an abuse of federal law.

The case centers on the roundup in 2001 and 2002 of hundreds of mostly Muslim men as U.S. law-enforcement officials scrambled to avert a possible follow-up attack. Prosecutors used a federal law allowing a person to be held as a “material witness” if needed to ensure their availability to testify.

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