Federal Judges Skeptical of President's Powers Over U.S. Citizen in Sept.

NEW YORK (AP) - A panel of federal judges waded into the question of whether the president has the power alone to declare a U.S. citizen an enemy combatant, an issue the Bush administration considers vital in its war on terror.
Three judges from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals suggested Monday that President Bush needs Congressional authorization to indefinitely hold 33-year-old Jose Padilla, accused in a dirty bomb plot and designated an enemy combatant.
>snip<
The three-judge panel was hearing an appeal of a lower-court ruling establishing that Padilla is entitled to see his lawyers and to challenge his designation as an enemy combatant. He has not seen a lawyer in 17 months.
>snip<
Jenny Martinez, a Stanford Law School professor who argued on Padilla's behalf, said the government believed its powers were almost limitless.

"Under their theory, they can do this to any American. They can pick up any person off the street and, so long as the president turns in a piece of paper that says that that person is associated with al-Qaida, that person has no rights and the courts are powerless to intervene," she said. "Your honors, that has never been the law in this country and it cannot be the law."
>full article:
http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAPCG2R5ND.html

was on the UKs Guardian earlier in the day.

Listed as on the wire at 4:32 a.m.

This is an issue that merits attention, but with all else going on, it may well slip under the radar for now.

What didn't make much sense to me was the quote from one of the judges:

from the article:
---The third judge on the panel, Richard C. Wesley, suggested the case shouldn't have been brought in Manhattan. "This should be litigated in South Carolina," Wesley snapped.---

Oh, ok. I see now. After rereading it, the S.C. reference would be because that's where Padilla is being held.

Do you suppose bush even recognizes the name Padilla? Doubt it.

The throwing out writ of habeas corpus is what Lincoln did in the civil war. The ball is starting be put in the courts, they better do something correct with it or they are out of the game too.

Kick