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Supreme Court to Hear 9/11 Detainee Suit Against US Officials

by VOA News

   The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments on whether Muslims
   and other immigrants held for months after the Sept. 11, 2001,
   terrorist attacks on the United States can sue former Attorney General
   John Ashcroft and other officials.

   Senior Bush administration officials, including former FBI Director
   Robert Mueller and Immigration and Naturalization Service Commissioner
   James Ziglar, have asked the justices to reverse a 2015 lower court
   ruling allowing the long-running suit to proceed.

   The lawsuit was filed by a group of Muslim, Arab and South Asian
   non-U.S. citizens who, their lawyers say, were held as terrorism
   suspects based on their race, religion, ethnicity and immigration
   status and abused in detention before being deported.

   Two of the justices, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, have recused
   themselves, meaning only six justices will hear the case. The court
   remains one justice short following Antonin Scalia's February death.

   Justices do not have to say why they recuse themselves from cases. But
   Sotomayor sat on a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd
   Circuit during an earlier version of the case, while Kagan was U.S.
   solicitor general during its initial prosecution.

   The U.S. officials will be represented by the Justice Department, which
   argues that there is no evidence they personally condoned any potential
   unconstitutional actions.

   The court will rule by the end of June.