Mother of tortured U.S. citizen appeals case to Supreme Court

[kpete]

Source: Raw Story

Mother of tortured U.S. citizen appeals case to Supreme Court

By Eric W. Dolan
Monday, April 23, 2012 17:19 EDT



On Monday, the mother of a U.S. citizen who was allegedly tortured at a naval base in Charleston asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate a lawsuit against former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other government officials on behalf of her son.

Jose Padilla, a convicted terrorist, had sued Rumsfeld and other U.S. officials over his alleged torture at the naval base, but a district court judge granted Rumsfeld immunity and dismissed the case, Padilla v. Rumsfeld. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld the dismissal in January.

“If the appeals court’s ruling is allowed to stand, government officials will have a blank check to commit any abuse in the name of national security, even the brutal torture of an American citizen in an American prison,” said Ben Wizner, the ACLU attorney who argued the case before the Fourth Circuit. “It is precisely the role of the courts to ensure that allegations of grave misconduct by Executive Branch officials receive fair adjudication. That vital role does not evaporate simply because those officials insist that their actions are too sensitive for judicial review.”


Padilla was arrested as an “enemy combatant” in May of 2002 after returning to the U.S. from Egypt. He was detained at a U.S. navy prison in South Carolina for nearly four years without charge.

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/04/23/mother-of-tortured-u-s-citizen-appeals-case-to-supreme-court/

[sabrina 1]

1. What was done to him was simply horrible.

I am glad his family is not giving up, although I doubt there is any hope of getting justice. But if they keep trying, maybe one day.

Torturers belong in jail. Donald Rumsfeld belongs in jail and these lawsuits will keep coming, which at least makes it impossible for Rumsfeld and Cheney et al to forger that we have not forgotten that they are war criminals.

[annabanana]

2. None of us are safe until this knot is untied.

War Criminals MUST be tried.

[DeSwiss]

3. K&R

- This country will has much to answer for.......

[provis99]

4. funny how the writer calls him a "U.S. citizen", and not an "American"

it makes it sound like a foreign-born who sneakily got his US citizenship, but isn't a "real" American.

[sdfernando]

7. The author is correct in calling him a "US Citizen"

All "US Citizens" are Americans but not all Americans are "US Citizens"...The Americas encompass a whole lot more than just the United States of America. Let us not forget our norther neighbors in Canada. Canadians are also Americans, as are Mexicans, Guatemalans, Colombians, Brazilians, etc. Equating "American" as meaning only a United States citizen is a subtle form of xenophobia. Sorry, but this is a pet-peeve of mine.

[annm4peace]

5. very shameful

There is a group in MN that has continued to protest those who authored, ordered and participate in torture.

We continue to put pressure on a catholic University, St Thomas, that hired one of the White House legal counselor that wrote it ok to ignore the Geneva Conventions. We have protested at the Law Schools graduation for the 4-5 years.

the professor is Robert Delahunty and is the elder legal counsel to Bush. He co-authored the legal memo with John Yoo.

You can join our group:: Tackle Torture at the Top.. a commitee of Women Against Military Madness

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tackling-Torture-at-the-Top/370422110962

Saturday, May 12, 11:00 a.m. Sidewalk in front of Orchestra Hall, 11th Street between Marquette Avenue and Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis. Come demonstrate against torture outside the University of St. Thomas Law School commencement ceremony. Robert Delahunty (later hired as professor by St. Thomas Law School) co-authored the January 2002 cornerstone memo with John Yoo that “legalized” torture and cruel and inhumane treatment of detainees by telling George Bush that the Geneva Conventions did not apply to “non-state actors” captured by the U.S. The Law School will not admit that Delahunty-Yoo’s “torture memo” was wrong and its students are still apparently led to believe that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to the “war on terror.” Recently the law school hosted former Attorney General Michael Mukasey who declared that waterboarding is not torture.

Please join us! This will be the 3rd time we’ve held anti-torture signs, handed out leaflets and wore “Gitmo orange” (extra suits available) outside the school’s commencement. Organized by: WAMM’s Tackling Torture at the Top (T3) Committee.

[EFerrari]

6. The men who destroyed this man are free today. nt

[Solly Mack]

8. "government officials will have a blank check to commit any abuse in the name of national security"

Not "will have" - they already do have.

Evidenced by America's war criminals still walking free.