Judge: Ashcroft doesn't have absolute immunity in lawsuit

[sabra]

http://www.kgw.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D8KDH1GG1.html

Judge: Ashcroft doesn't have absolute immunity in lawsuit

Former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft does not have absolute immunity from a lawsuit over the material witness policies the Justice Department used after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge ruled Wednesday.

In his ruling, Lodge refused to dismiss the lawsuit brought by former University of Idaho football player Abdullah al-Kidd against Ashcroft, current U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, the Department of Homeland Security and others.

...

Al-Kidd, who played for the Vandals under the name Lavoni Kidd, contends that in 2003 the government wrongfully arrested him as a material witness in its unsuccessful computer terrorism case against a fellow student, Sami Omar Al-Hussayen. Al-Kidd and Al-Hussayen both worked for the Islamic Assembly of North America, a Michigan-based charitable organization that federal investigators alleged funneled money to activities supporting terrorism and published material advocating suicide attacks on the United States.

A jury acquitted Al-Hussayen of using his computer skills to foster terrorism and of three immigration violations after an eight-week federal trial. But Al-Hussayen — who was only months from finishing his doctorate study at the University of Idaho — was eventually deported to Saudi Arabia.

[rzemanfl]

1. Hey they can pay the judgment out of Ashcroft's musical

royalties. :sarcasm: Really needed?

[BushOut06]

2. If Pres Clinton didn't have immunity, Ashcroft sure as hell doesn't

Payback's a bitch, ain't it? Bet them repugs wish they never opened that can of worms now. In a way, I'm almost glad the repugs decided that a sitting president wasn't immune from lawsuits. They've set the precedent, now we can go after these sunsabitches.

[LeighAnn]

3. Finally some decent news

:+
How many have rotted in prison on account of this heartless bastard? And I'm not talking about since September 11, I'm talking about throughout his whole career in "public service". He had a Justice be Damned tough-on-everything-but-Republicans approach to the law and never once did I know him to show any kind of mercy. I'll bet he spends the rest of his life defending himself against these kinds of lawsuits.

[Moderator]

4. kick

[Demeter]

5. Ashcroft Is Denied Immunity in Case --WaPo

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/28/AR2006092801718_pf.html


Ashcroft Is Denied Immunity in Case

By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 29, 2006; A12



A federal judge in Idaho has ruled that former attorney general John D. Ashcroft can be held personally responsible for the wrongful detention of a U.S. citizen arrested as a "material witness" in a terrorism case.

U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge, in a ruling issued late Wednesday, dismissed claims by the Justice Department that Ashcroft and other officials should be granted immunity from claims by a former star college football player arrested at Dulles International Airport in 2003.

Attorneys for the plaintiff in the civil suit, Abdullah al-Kidd, said the decision raises the possibility that Ashcroft could be forced to testify or turn over records about the government's use of the material witness law, a cornerstone of its controversial legal strategy after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks....Robin Goldfaden, one of Kidd's attorneys at the American Civil Liberties Union, said the case "could be the launching point for more fully documenting how the government is misusing the material witness statute."

The law was intended to give authorities the power to detain witnesses they feared might flee before testifying. But after the Sept. 11 attacks, the government used it to hold 70 men, nearly half of whom were never called to testify in court, according to a study by the ACLU and Human Rights Watch.
...While not deciding on the veracity of Kidd's claims, Lodge, who was appointed to the federal bench in 1989 by President George H.W. Bush, ruled that Ashcroft could be found personally liable in the case because of his role in establishing and enforcing the government's material-witness policies.

[KittyWampus]

6. Interesting sychronicity what with the terror bill passing yesterday

[GetTheRightVote]

7. Hmmmmmmmmj

:kick:

[C_U_L8R]

8. Msg to Gonzo

Hope you and your cronies are paying attention.
Justice WILL find you.

[Demeter]

9. Don't Count That Chicken Hawk Until He's Locked Up in Jail!

Keep your fingers crossed, too.

[TlalocW]

10. Why don't we waterboard the son of a bitch?

Heck, let's jump right in on the torture bandwagon since it's such a good way to get people to tell us what we need to know, and it will be payback for that, "Let the Eagle Soar," song he subjected us to.

TlalocW

[bushisanidiot]

11. Asscroft is a Criminal

lock his ass up and sort out the details later.. let him live by his "guilty until proven innocent - no lawyer allowed" round-up
rules.

[Vidar]

12. Kudos to Judge Lodge. Watch your back.

[gratuitous]

13. Toss him in the can, no habeas corpus

Indefinite detention without charge, trial, lawyer or prospect of relief seems to be the rule for people who seek to hurt the United States, right? And what's more hurtful than subverting the law of the land?

[maseman]

14. Remember

When that freak covered the nude statue in his office building with some sort of robe because he thought it was "offensive." What a sicko twisted nut.

[KittyWampus]

15. where did this get moved to?

[The Stranger]

16. Why no recommendations?

Hopefully, they will take Ashcroft down. War criminals and despots may hide and change their stripes, even over decades, but these criminals' deeds are well known and recorded.