Breaking:Supreme Court: Bush’s Attorney General And FBI Chief Cannot Be Sued For Muslim Abuse
May 18, 2009 2 Comments ›› Pat Dollard
Top law enforcement officials cannot be sued for alleged abuse of Muslims in the U.S. following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Supreme Court ruled Monday.
The 5-4 decision means that the officials, including former Attorney General John Ashcroft and current FBI Director Robert Mueller, are immune from such a lawsuit.
Javaid Iqbal, a Pakistani Muslim, personally was looking to sue Ashcroft, Mueller and others for their actions after the Sept. 11 attacks.
The allegation is that the officials unlawfully targeted Muslim men for detainment. Iqbal was one of those men — he later pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy and eventually was deported to Pakistan.
Iqbal spent nearly six months in solitary confinement in New York in 2002. He had argued that while Ashcroft and Mueller did not single him out for mistreatment, they were responsible for a policy of confining detainees in highly restrictive conditions because of their religious beliefs or race.
But the government argued that there was nothing linking Mueller and Ashcroft to the abuses that happened to Iqbal.
The court on Monday overturned a lower court decision that let Iqbal’s lawsuit against the high-ranking officials proceed.
