US top court urged to mull detentions
A leading US civil rights group is urging the Supreme Court to rule whether the US president has the authority to indefinitely hold US residents and citizens in military custody without charge or trial.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) wants a ruling in the case of Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, who was living in the United States on a student visa and was arrested in December 2001 and charged with credit card fraud, identity fraud and making false statements.
He was described as an Al-Qaeda sleeper agent and designated an enemy combatant in 2003, and was held in solitary confinement at a military brig in South Carolina.
The Supreme Court in December accepted the case and was going to issue a ruling on president's authority for indefinite detention.
But President Barack Obama's administration on Friday charged Marri in federal court with alleged ties to the Al-Qaeda network. It simultaneously asked the high court to drop consideration of his case, arguing that he was no longer being held formally without charge.
The ACLU said in a statement the move means the government "has not renounced the authority to detain US residents and citizens in military custody as 'enemy combatants,' nor has it ruled out the prospect that al-Marri himself may be placed back in military detention."
A hearing has been scheduled for April 27 but the high court could decide before then to take the case, or send it back to a lower court.
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