Honestly, some days the stupid just gets overwhelming. None more blatantly idiotic over the last few years than the extent to which our nation’s legal system was end-run for reasons that are still not quite apparent beyond "because we said so and we want to, so there."
Al-Marri was indicted in a US court in Peoria, IL, this past week. Note that the world has not come to an end.
Jane Mayer, whose reporting on so many aspects of this and many other legal rights issues has been exceptional, pulled a copy and uploaded the indictment once it was unsealed.
It reads to me like a standard material support and conspiracy under 18 USC 2339A and 18 USC 2339B. With scant else beyond a bare bones recitation of rote charge under the confines of the law.
There are not many details in the indictment beyond this — but information will come out at trial regarding the underlying evidence. And between now and then, there will be multiple filings in the case for ascertaining some of the finer points. We’ll certainly be watching for them.
In the meantime, lead defense counsel, Jonathan Hafetz of the ACLU, released a statement yesterday regarding the also-pending SCOTUS appeal on al-Marri’s detention for more than 5 years and counting without charge or trial:
The legal issues raised by the Supreme Court case are neither settled nor rendered moot by today’s indictment. We will continue to pursue Mr. al-Marri’s case to make sure that no American citizen or lawful resident will ever again be imprisoned without charge or trial. It is critical that the Court hears Mr. al-Marri’s case and categorically rejects the notion that any president has the sweeping authority to deprive individuals living in the United States of their most basic constitutional rights by designating them ‘enemy combatants.’
My information is that ACLU intends to push forward with the case, despite an attempt by Obama’s DOJ to have SCOTUS declare the case moot. The rationale is that failure to gain a SCOTUS ruling on these issues will leave it open for subsequent administrations to use this same sort of legal black hole detention in future settings without some judgment being rendered as to legality.
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